Consumer confidence jumps
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, January 6, 2002
NEW YORK — After significant declines over the past three months, The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index jumped 8.8 points in December, finishing the year at 93.7.
The Expectations Index rose sharply, from 77.3 to 91.5, and the Present Situation Index increased slightly, from 96.2 to 96.9.
Home-buying plans also jumped, a favorable sign for the furniture industry. Just over 4% of survey respondents in December reported they planned to buy a home in the next six months, up from 3.3% in November.
Lynn Franco, director of the board's Consumer Research Center, said, "The deterioration in current economic conditions appears to be reaching a plateau, led by a stabilizing employment scenario.
"Consumers' short-term optimism is no longer at recession levels, and the upward trend signals that the economy may be close to bottoming out and that a rebound by mid-2002 is likely," Franco said.
Two-thirds of the nine regions posted increases in consumer confidence, with the New England area showing the largest, 15 points. Also up were the Middle Atlantic, 3.8 points; East North Central, 1.1 points; South Atlantic, 11.9; West South Central, 10.3; and Pacific, 5.2.
The three regions showing declines were the West North Central, down 2.7 points; East South Central, off 4.2 points; and Mountain, down 2.6 points.
Consumers are now just slightly less optimistic about current business conditions than they were in November. The proportion reporting business conditions to be bad was 21.7%, up from 20.7% a month earlier.
And 82.4% of respondents rated jobs as not so plentiful or hard to get, compared with 82.5% in November.
Six-month expectations were more positive. Just over 90% thought their income would increase or stay the same, compared with 89.7 in November.
Also looking six months into the future, 88.4% consumers thought business conditions would be better or remain the same. In November, 83.1% thought business conditions would be stable or better.
The job outlook was even more favorable, as 16.1% of December survey participants saw more jobs available in six months, compared with 14.4% in November. Also, 90.7% thought the number of jobs would remain the same or increase, compared with 89.7% in November.
The index is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households.
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