US Consumer Confidence Stays Strong In July

The Consumer Confidence Index, sitting at 129.1 in July, is mostly unchanged from its previous several months, according to a report from The Conference Board.

The Present Situation Index, which is based on the assessment of current business and market conditions, rose from 159.6 to 160.3, while the Expectations Index, which looks at the short-term outlook consumers have for business, only rose 0.1 point to 108.5 this month, the report stated.

While consumer confidence didn’t change in July, the report noted that it was still the highest it had been since February 2020.

“Consumers’ appraisal of present-day conditions held steady, suggesting economic growth in Q3 is off to a strong start,” said The Conference Board Senior Director of Economic Indicators Lynn Franco in the report. “Consumers’ optimism about the short-term outlook didn’t waver, and they continued to expect that business conditions, jobs and personal financial prospects will improve. Short-term inflation expectations eased slightly but remained elevated. Spending intentions picked up in July, with a larger percentage of consumers saying they planned to purchase homes, automobiles and major appliances in the coming months. Thus, consumer spending should continue to support robust economic growth in the second half of 2021.”

The report went on to say that 26.4 percent of customers said business conditions were “good,” while 19.3 percent said they were bad. Meanwhile, in terms of the labor market, 54.9 percent said there were plenty of jobs, while 10.5 percent said jobs were hard to get. In both cases, the numbers were only barely perceptible changes from the previous report.

The same went for when respondents were asked about short- and long-term business prospects.

PYMNTS reported in June that consumer confidence had been up for the fifth consecutive month. Franco said at that time that this meant spending would continue boosting economic growth. And she said vacation purchases would likely continue to rise as well.