Consumer confidence brightens a little more in January

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased again in January after an improvement in December, though the index was still far below last year's reading.

January's confidence reading stands at 98.1, up from 96.3 in December.

“Consumer confidence improved slightly in January, following an increase in December,” said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. “Consumers’ assessment of current conditions held steady, while their expectations for the next six months improved moderately. For now, consumers do not foresee the volatility in financial markets as having a negative impact on the economy.”

On a more granular level, the Present Situation Index was fairly flat at 116.4. The percentage saying business conditions are “good” was virtually unchanged at 27.2%, while those saying business conditions are “bad” declined slightly from 18.9% to 18.5%. As for the labor market, the proportion claiming jobs are “plentiful” decreased from 24.2% to 22.8%, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” declined to 23.4% from 24.5%.

Meanwhile, the Expectations Index increased from 83.0 to 85.9 in January. There was a 1.7% increase in those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months, while those expecting business conditions to worsen edged down from 10.8% to 10.3%. Additionally, those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased from 12.4% to 13.2%, while those anticipating fewer jobs decreased slightly from 16.8% to 16.5%. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase improved from 16.3% to 18.1%. However, the proportion expecting a reduction in income increased from 9.5% to 10.8%.