Consumer confidence in the economy fell to start the year, according to the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index…(Conference Board)
- M-O-M: The Consumer Confidence Index declined in January to 113.8, down from 115.2 in December.
- Y-O-Y: The index is still up significantly from the 89.3 reported in January 2021.
Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said the drop was because of short-term expectations…
- “Consumer confidence moderated in January, following gains in the final three months of 2021…The Present Situation Index improved, suggesting the economy entered the new year on solid footing. However, expectations about short-term growth prospects weakened, pointing to a likely moderation in growth during the first quarter of 2022.”
Consumers who feel current business conditions are “good” improved slightly in December to 21.1%, from 19.4% the previous month. Unfortunately, consumers who believe business conditions are bad are still higher despite a 1.5 percentage point drop to 25.6%.
- GOOD NEWS: 55.1% of consumers still believe that jobs are plentiful, down from the historic high of 55.9% in December.
Consumer optimism for the next six months was the cause of the drop this month as the index fell to 23.8%, down from 25.4% the previous month. Consumers who believe conditions will worsen climbed slightly to 19.0%, up from 18.6% in December.