Jobs, Consumer Confidence | featured news

Americans' confidence in the economy jumped this month to the highest level since February, bolstered by a brighter outlook for overall business conditions and hiring. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 70.3. That's up from 61.3 in August, which was revised higher. And it's the highest reading since February, when employers added 259,000 jobs and many thought the recovery was strengthening.

Consumer confidence rebounded to its highest level in more than a year in March as optimism about jobs and income overcame higher prices at the gasoline pump, said a survey released on Friday.

Bloomberg reports that U.S. consumer confidence is almost back to pre-recession levels. But is that actually good news? Over at the Big Picture, James Bianco says it’s not clear why “consumer confidence” is a useful metric. It’s not correlated with jobs. Or retail sales.

U.S. consumer confidence fell in March after hitting a three-year high in the prior month as expectations about jobs and income growth worsened.

Consumer confidence sank in July to its lowest since February on job market worries, underscoring the slow path to economic recovery, and home prices rose in May but without signs of a sustained rebound, reports released on Tuesday showed.

Americans' outlook on the economy went into relapse in February. Rising job worries sent a key barometer of confidence to its lowest point in 10 months.

US consumer confidence fell sharply in October as fears about job prospects prayed upon Americans, figures show.