Consumer confidence reached its highest level in 17 months in June as recession concerns began to ease, according to the Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board. The index increased 7.2 points to 109.7 in June, the highest level since January 2022.
Vacation intentions continued to improve, while the intention to buy homes and big-ticket appliances cooled further due to elevated mortgage rates. This shift in consumer preference from goods to services is likely to continue this year.
Consumers’ assessment of current business conditions improved in June. The shares of respondents rating business conditions “good” rose by 4.0 percentage points to 23.7%, while those claiming business conditions “bad” fell by 0.4 percentage points to 16.3%. Meanwhile, consumers’ assessment of the labor market was also more favorable. The share of respondents reporting that jobs were “plentiful” increased by 3.5 percentage points, while those who saw jobs as “hard to get” fell by 0.2 percentage points.
The Conference Board also reported the share of respondents planning to buy a home within six months. The share of respondents planning to buy a home fell slightly to 5.5% in June. The share of respondents planning to buy a newly constructed home marginally decreased to 0.5%, while for those who were planning to buy an existing home declined to 2.2%.
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