|
2008 Economic Calendar |
|
POWERED BY
|
|
|
Resource Center » U.S. & Intl Recaps | Release Dates | Why Investors Care | Today's Calendar
|
|
The Conference Board compiles a survey of consumer attitudes on present economic conditions and expectations of future conditions. Five thousand consumers across the country are surveyed each month. While the level of consumer confidence is associated with consumer spending, the two do not move in tandem each and every month. Why Investors Care
| Released on 3/28/06 For Mar 2006 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Highlights
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index popped higher in March, to 107.2 vs. 102.7 in February. The March reading is the best in nearly four years. The expectations index, which makes up 60% of the main index and which has been on the slide in recent months, rose a solid 5.7 points to 89.9. The improvement in expectations points to strength in future months. The present situation index, the other 40% of the main index, rose 3 points to 133.3.
Jobs readings were mostly positive. Those saying jobs are plentiful rose sharply, to 28.4% from 27.4%. But those saying jobs are hard to get also rose, to 20.7% from 20.2%. The six-month outlook was more positive, showing a rise in those seeing more jobs (13.9% vs. 13.4%) and a sharp decrease in those seeing fewer (16.6% vs. 19.9%).
Bonds dipped and the dollar firmed on the report, which may help give a cautious lift to stocks ahead of this afternoon's FOMC statement. Though a lift in consumer spirits may be stifled a bit by the current swing higher in gasoline prices, better confidence will give a boost to expectations on consumer spending which has gotten off to a mixed start this year.
The Conference Board's consumer confidence index declined 5 percentage points in February to 101.7. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index remained unchanged in early March and this suggests that The Conference Board's attitude survey might also stop falling. However, these two surveys can be at odds with one another.
Consumer confidence Consensus Forecast for Mar 06: 102
Range: 99.8 to 105.0
![[Chart]](chart.gif)
|
Typically retail sales will move in tandem with consumer optimism - although not necessarily each and every month. |
| 2006 Release Schedule | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
powered by
![[Econoday]](../../../../../../../../../images/logo.gif){kind=logo}