Consumer Confidence: Feeling Better In September

September 26, 2006 – The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index rose by 4.3 index points to 104.5 in September, reversing about two-thirds of August’s unusually large 6.8 point decline (Charts 1 and 2).

Chart 1. The consumer confidence index. January 2000 through September 2006.

September’s revival should help to ease any fears that U.S. consumer spending was about to be undermined by a landslide in consumer confidence. (Consumption accounts for about 70% of U.S. GDP.)

Chart 2. The consumer confidence index. February 1967 through September 2006.

As the Conference Board noted in its press release, “…there is little to suggest a significant change in economic activity as we enter the final quarter of 2006.”

Bottom line: a continuing healthy trend in consumer confidence through September.

Suzanne Rizzo

Sources:

The Conference Board, Inc. (http://www.conference-board.org) - the Consumer Confidence Index and related information.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (http://www.bea.gov) - GDP and consumption.
National Bureau of Economic Research (http://www.nber.org) - recession dates.