U.S. Consumer Confidence Rebounds Much More Than Expected In May

(RTTNews) - A report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday showed a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of May.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index spiked to 98.0 in May after plunging to a downwardly revised 85.7 in April.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 87.3 from the 86.0 originally reported for the previous month.

"The rebound was already visible before the May 12 US-China trade deal but gained momentum afterwards," said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board.

She added, "Consumers were less pessimistic about business conditions and job availability over the next six months and regained optimism about future income prospects."

The sharp increase by the headline index came as the expectations index, which is based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, soared to 72.8 in May from 55.4 in April.

The present situation index, which is based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, also jumped to 135.9 in May from 131.1 in April.

"May's rebound in confidence was broad-based across all age groups and all income groups," said Guichard. "It was also shared across all political affiliations, with the strongest improvements among Republicans."

She continued, "However, on a six-month moving average basis, confidence in all age and income groups was still down due to previous monthly declines."