U.S. May Consumer Confidence - Holding up better than Michigan CSI
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index at 93.1 is down from April’s 93.8 but only because April was revised up from 92.8. May’s index is the first decline since January. The index is holding up better than the record low Michigan CSI. The Conference Board index tends to be more sensitive to the labor market and the Michigan CSI more sensitive to inflation.
Conference Board labor market perceptions did edge lower in May, with the excess of those seeing jobs as plentiful over those seeing them as hard to get falling back to 6.9% from April’s improved 7.5%.
The slight slowing in labor conditions may explain a dip the the present situation index to 121.2 from 124.4, though this was partly offset by a rise in the expectations index to 74.4 from 73.4.
The improvement in 6-month expectations was assisted by a correction lower in inflation expectations, which contrasts a rise in the Michigan CSI’s inflation findings. Michigan CSI inflation expectations were slower in the preliminary May reading before being revised higher in the final.
