Consumer Confidence in April 2015

The consumer confidence index as reported by the Conference Board fell sharply in April as March was revised upwards slightly. In April the composite value which combines the view of the present situation and expectations fell from 101.4 to 95.2.

The view of the present situation fell from 109.5 to 106.8 but the big change was to expectations which decreased from 96.0 to 87.5. The decline of the three month moving average (3MMA) of the composite was less severe, falling from 101.3 to 98.5. It may be that the high values of January and March were outliers because the present values of both the present situation and expectations are currently above the five year trend line, (Figure 1).