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"You get better job growth, people hear about it and you get better sentiment and better spending"
- Maury Harris, chief economist at UBS Securities LLC
U.S. consumer sentiment rose to eight-month high in January as Americans became more confident on the outlook for the economy. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment advanced to 74 from 69.9 at the end of the previous month.
"You get better job growth, people hear about it and you get better sentiment and better spending," said Maury Harris, chief economist at UBS Securities LLC in New York.
Purchases early in 2012 "may not be quite as strong as the fourth quarter, but I still think you have an acceptable year in consumer spending," he said.