NEW YORK - The consumer confidence index climbed to 50.2 in October from an upwardly revised 48.6 last month, The Conference Board reported this morning.
The September index was originally reported as 48.5.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted the index would be 49.0.
The present situation index gained to 23.9 from an upwardly revised 23.3, originally reported as 23.1, while the expectations index increased to 67.8 from an upwardly revised 65.5 last month, originally reported as 65.4.
“Consumer confidence, while slightly improved from September levels, is still hovering at historically low levels,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. “Consumers’ assessment of the current state of the economy is relatively unchanged, primarily because labor market conditions have yet to significantly improve. And, despite the uptick in expectations, consumers continue to be quite concerned about the short-term outlook. Both present and future indicators point toward more of the same in the coming months.”
Business conditions were called “good” by 8.5% of respondents in October, an increase from 8.2% the prior month. Those saying conditions are “bad” slid to 41.9% from 46.0%.
The percentage of consumers expecting a pickup in business conditions in the next half year grew to 16.0% from 15.0%, while 14.1% said they expect conditions to worsen, down from 16.6% the prior month.
On the jobs front, those who believe jobs are “plentiful” dipped to 3.5% in October from 3.8% in September, while the number saying jobs are “hard to get” increased to 46.1% this survey from 45.8%. The respondents who see more jobs becoming available in a half year, slid to 14.1% from 14.5%. Those expecting fewer jobs to become available fell to 22.0% from 22.6%, The Conference Board reported.
Income expectations were mixed, with 9.1% of consumers anticipating an increase in their income in the next six months, down from the prior month's 10.3%, while 15.0% expect their income to decrease, down from 16.3% in the prior month’s survey.
The number of consumers who expected to buy a home in the next six months increased to 2.1% from 2.0%, while the number of respondents planning to buy a car remained at 5.0%. Fewer consumers than last month said they plan to buy a major appliance in the next six months (24.2% vs. 27.7%).
More respondents than last month (38.9% vs. 38.0%) 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 22.7%-13.3% margin.
The consumer confidence survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households for The Conference Board by TNS.
