- Lynn Franco, The Conference Board
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased significantly despite experts' pessimistic forecasts. In March, it gained 8% and reached 125.6, which is the highest value since December 2000. Therefore, the number of consumers who evaluated business conditions as "good" rose from 28.3% to 32.2%. Moreover, the number of consumers who believed that there was "enough" job offers in the market also climbed from 26.9% to 31.7%. Accordingly, the number people who evaluated business conditions as "bad" decreased from 13.4% to 12.9%. In addition, the number of people who were experiencing "difficulties" finding a job slightly diminished from 19.9% to 19.5%. Altogether, this mean that consumers believe that the current economic conditions have improved and that they are ready to increase their spending and investments. This also suggests that people are more optimistic about the near-term economic situation. For instance, the number of consumers who suggested that business conditions would improve even more in the next six months soared from 23.9% to 27.1%. At the same time, the number of consumers who suggested that more jobs would be created in the next six months also nudged from 20.9% to 24.8%.
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