BLBG: Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Increases to Eight-Month High
Confidence among U.S. consumers increased in February to the highest level in eight months, a sign falling unemployment and rising stock prices may be comforting households.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for the month climbed to 75.1 from 74.2 in January. Economists projected the gauge would rise to 75, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.
As the largest part of the economy grows more optimistic, consumer spending could help drive the expansion, supporting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s testimony this week that “the growth rate of economic activity appears likely to pick up this year.”
“2011 has started with a couple of factors that were completely absent in 2010, and one of them is confidence,” Tom Porcelli, chief U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets Corp. in New York, said before the report. “Now confidence is starting to come back.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Kowalski in Washington at akowalski13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net
