Consumer confidence at highest level in six years

Consumer confidence is up for the second straight month, reaching 85.2 for June, according to The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index.

That was a three-point jump from May’s mark of 82.2.

“Consumer confidence continues to advance and the index is now at its highest level since January 2008 (87.3),” Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board said in a statement. “June’s increase was driven primarily by improving current conditions, particularly consumers’ assessment of business conditions. Expectations regarding the short-term outlook for the economy and jobs were moderately more favorable, while income expectations were a bit mixed. Still, the momentum going forward remains quite positive.”

Consumers were slightly more optimistic about business conditions this month, with those saying business conditions are “good” increasing to 23.0 percent from 21.1 percent, while those stating business conditions are “bad” decreased to 22.8 percent from 24.6 percent. The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 18.8 percent from 17.7 percent, but 11.4 percent said they expect business conditions to worsen, up from 10.7 percent in May.

Consumers’ assessment of the job market was also slightly more favorable. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” edged up to 14.7 percent from 14.2 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” declined to 31.8 percent from 32.2 percent.

At the same time, 16.3 percent of consumers anticipated more jobs in the months ahead, up from 15.2 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs edged down to 18.7 percent from 18.9 percent.