TRICK OR (HOLIDAY) TREAT?
By FITSNEWS || “Ebola, Sch-ebola.”
U.S. consumers shook off the threat of a deadly virus – as well as some serious market turbulence – to post the best consumer confidence mark in years in October. The Conference Board’s key index soared to 94.5 this month – the highest it’s been since October 2007.
Impressive, right? That’s certainly the idea …
And while the measure’s “present situation” metric barely budged, there is unbridled optimism moving forward – with the “expectations” side of the measure soaring from 83.7 to 95.0, the highest it’s been since 2011.
Interesting …
With stagnant income growth and 93 million working age Americans not in the labor pool, we see very little reason for consumer optimism. But let’s hope we’re wrong … and these numbers are right. With the 2014 holiday shopping season around the corner it would be a very opportune time for “hope” to make a comeback.
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