Consumers ready for holiday shopping, the busiest time of the year for retail outlets. (Photo: Reuters)
The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Survey rose in December to 96.5 from 92.6 the month prior, beating median expectations for a 93.8 gain. The Present Situation Index increased from 110.9 last month to 115.3 in December, while the Expectations Index improved to 83.9 from 80.4 in November.
“Consumer confidence improved in December, following a moderate decrease in November,” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “As 2015 draws to a close, consumers’ assessment of the current state of the economy remains positive, particularly their assessment of the job market.”
However, optimism about the short-term outlook was somewhat mixed in the month of December. Respondents expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months decreased slightly to 15.2% from 15.7%. However, those expecting business conditions to worsen increased slightly to 11.0% from 10.6%.
The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN). Nielson is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence, mobile measurement, trade shows and related properties.
Those saying business conditions are “good” increased from 25.0 percent to 27.3 percent. However, those saying business conditions are “bad” also increased from 16.9 percent to 19.8 percent. Consumers, however, were more positive about the labor market. The proportion claiming jobs are “plentiful” increased from 21.0 percent to 24.1 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” decreased to 24.7 percent from 25.8 percent.
