FYI: While economic data has seemingly been missing expectations left and right, today’s report on Consumer Confidence for the month of January actually surprised to the upside. While economists were expecting the headline reading to come in at a level of 96.5, the actual reading came in at 98.1. The chart below shows the headline Consumer Confidence going back to the start of 2009. As shown, while this month’s reading is still well off the cycle high of 103.8 from January 2015, it is still above the the long-term average of 93.4. The Fed may be raising rates, economic data maybe weak, and the stock market’s performance may be putrid, but consumers remain positive.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/consumer-confidence-up/
