NEW YORK - The consumer confidence index climbed to 49.5 in November from an upwardly revised 48.7 last month, The Conference Board reported this morning.
The October index was originally reported as 47.7.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted the index would be 47.7.
The present situation index fell to 21.0 from an upwardly revised 21.1, originally reported as 20.7, while the expectations index rose to 68.5 from an upwardly revised 67.0 last month, originally seen as 65.7.
“Consumer confidence posted a slight gain in November. The present situation index, however, was virtually unchanged and remains at levels not seen in 26 years (17.5 Feb. 1983),” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. “The moderate improvement in the short-term outlook was the result of a decrease in the percent of consumers expecting business and labor market conditions to worsen, as opposed to an increase in the percent of consumers expecting conditions to improve. Income expectations remain very pessimistic and consumers are entering the holiday season in a very frugal mood.”
Business conditions were called “good” by 8.1% of respondents in November, an increase from 7.8% the prior month. Those saying conditions are “bad” dipped to 45.7% from 46.7%.
The percentage of consumers expecting a pickup in business conditions in the next half year slid to 20.0% from 20.8%, while 15.1% said they expect conditions to worsen, down from 18.2% the prior month.
On the jobs front, those who believe jobs are “plentiful” decreased to 3.2% in November from 3.4% in October, while the number saying jobs are “hard to get” increased to 49.8% this survey from 49.4%. The respondents who see more jobs becoming available in a half year, dipped to 15.2% from 16.8%. Those expecting fewer jobs to become available fell to 23.1% from 26.1%, The Conference Board reported.
Income expectations were more pessimistic, with 10.0% of consumers anticipating an increase in their income in the next six months, down from the prior month's 10.7%, while 19.1% expect their income to decrease, off from 19.3% in the prior month’s survey.
The number of consumers who expected to buy a home in the next six months slipped to 2.0% from 2.3%, while the number of respondents planning to buy a car dipped to 4.4% from 4.7%. An identical number of consumers as last month said they plan to buy a major appliance in the next six months (23.2%).
Fewer respondents than last month (38.0% vs. 38.9%) expect to take a vacation in the next six months, but more said they would stay in the U.S. rather than leave the country. Cars rather than airplanes were the preferred mode of travel, by a 19.9%-15.1% margin.
The consumer confidence survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households for The Conference Board by TNS.
