U.S. April Consumer Confidence remains resilient, labor market view improves
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, as was the case in March, has proven surprisingly resilient to worries on gasoline prices, with the index seeing a third straight marginal rise, to 92.8 from 92.2.
The Conference Board’s index tends to be more sensitive to the labor market and less sensitive to inflation than the Michigan CSI, which hit a record low in April (though the final index was less weak than the preliminary). Conference Board data shows Inflation expectations saw a marginal dip after a sharp spike in March.
Perceptions on the labor market were improved, with those seeing jobs as plentiful exceeding those seeing them as hard to get by a 4-month high of 7.5%, up from 6.1% in March, arguing against an increase in April unemployment.
The present situation still slipped by a marginal 0.3 points to 123.8, but this follows a 5.4 point rise in March. Future expectations rose by 1.2 points to 72.2 after a modest 1.6 point fall in March. Resilience in equities may be propping up expectations, though the level remains weak.
