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Consumer Sentiment Rebounds in October: University of Michigan

Shoppers at Third Street Promenade outdoor shopping mall on August 17, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo: Reuters)

A gauge of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan rose to 92.1 in October from a final reading in September of 87.2. Wall Street expected a smaller rise to 89 for the month.

“The rebound in confidence signifies that consumers have concluded that the fears expressed on Wall Street did not extend to Main Street. Importantly, the renewed confidence did not simply represent a relief rally, but instead reflected renewed optimism,” said Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin. “Personal financial expectations rose to their highest level since 2007, as did consumers’ views toward purchases of durable goods.”

Preliminary Consumer Sentiment Results: October 2015

	Oct	Sep	Oct	M-M	Y-Y
	2015	2015	2014	Change	Change
Index of Consumer Sentiment	92.1	87.2	86.9	+5.6%	+6.0%
Current Economic Conditions	106.7	101.2	98.3	+5.4%	+8.5%
Index of Consumer Expectations	82.7	78.2	79.6	+5.8%	+3.9%

Next data release: October 30, 2015 for Final October data at 10am ET

“While consumers anticipate a continued economic expansion, many expected strong headwinds from falling commodity prices, weakened economies in China and elsewhere as well as continued stresses on European countries,” Curtin added. “Perhaps the most important finding is that low inflation and continued job growth have enabled consumers to adapt to a slower and more variable rate of economic growth by varying the pace of their spending without losing confidence that the expansion will continue. Overall, the data still indicate that consumption will expand at 2.9% during 2016.”

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PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.