U.S. Consumer Confidence eases to 82.3 in April

Consumer Confidence

Released On 4/29/2014 10:00:00 AM For Apr, 2014 Prior Prior Revised Consensus Consensus Range Actual Consumer Confidence - Level 82.3  83.9  83.0  80.8  to 87.8  82.3

Highlights Consumer confidence eased in April but still remains over the key 80 level, at 82.3 in April vs March's upwardly revised 83.9. These readings are the highest of the recovery and follow five straight prior readings under 80. But there is bad news in the April report and that is the present situation component which fell under 80, to 78.3 and sizably below March's 82.5. This comparison points to weakness for month-to-month consumer sector readings for April including for job readings as the jobs-hard-to-get subcomponent rose a sharp 1.1 percentage points to 32.5 percent. And the jobs plentiful reading is down, to 12.9 percent vs 13.8 percent in March. The good news in the report is the expectations component which is steady and solid at 84.9 vs 84.8 in March. Those seeing more jobs opening up in the months ahead are up, to 15.0 percent vs March's 14.1 percent, as are those seeing their income going up, to 17.1 percent from 15.3 percent. Nevertheless, those seeing their own income falling rose to 12.9 percent from 11.5 percent. Gas and food prices have been on the climb but have yet to affect inflation expectations which, like they were in last week's consumer sentiment report, are unchanged, at 5.5 percent for this report. This report is showing less strength this month in consumer spirits than other readings though the results are still respectable. Yet the decline in the current conditions component is a concern. The Dow is moving off opening highs following today's report.

Market Consensus before announcement The Conference Board's consumer confidence index rose to 82.3 in March versus a revised 78.3 in February. The gain was led by strong showings in two subcomponents, expectations for future business conditions and, importantly, expectations for future employment. But the assessment of current conditions actually was down a bit including the very closely watched jobs-hard-to-get subcomponent which rose 6 tenths to 33.0 percent. Source: Bloomberg