Consumer
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - There's a very real pickup in consumer confidence, but, six years on from the Great Recession, sentiment is still at very weak levels, according to data released Tuesday.
The Conference Board said its consumer-confidence index rose to 83 in May from a downwardly revised 81.7 in April. The May level matched the MarketWatch-compiled economist forecast and was up 12% from a year earlier. It has been in a tight range for all of 2014.
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This mixed message is shown in the percentage who expect their incomes to improve in the next six months. It's now just over 20%, but that's the highest reading since December 2007, when the U.S. entered recession.
Other key elements of the survey: A net 18.2% said jobs were hard to get vs. being plentiful, compared with 19.8% in April and 26.5% in May 2013.
But the survey did reveal caution in consumer spending plans.
Those who plan to buy a home within six months fell to 4.9% in May, the lowest since July 2012; that compares with a percentage of 5.6% in April and as high as 7.4% in December. Perhaps relatedly, plans to buy major appliances within six months fell to 45.1%, the lowest since September 2011.
Those who plan to buy an automobile rose to 11.3% in May from 10.6% in April, though that's still the second-lowest reading of the year.
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