Economy
January 28, 2015
Consumer Confidence in January 2015
Written by Peter Wright
The consumer confidence index as reported by the Conference Board rose strongly in January and the December results were revised upwards. The composite rose from 93.1 to 102.9, the view of the present situation rose from 99.9 to 102.6 as expectations rose from 88.5 to 96.4. This was the first time for the composite to exceed 100 since September 2007 before the recession began. Interesting to realize that this indicator had a one year lead on the steel industry collapse in September 2008. The three month moving averages (3MMA) of the composite and present view and expectations all improved in January. The 3MMA of the composite at 95.7 is now well above the 35 year average which stands at 90.6 since 1980, the 3MMA of the composite, the view of the present situation and expectations are shown in Figure 1.
