U.S. consumer confidence up as outlook brightens

Biz.Yahoo/Reuters ^ | October 14, 2003

[Starwind]

U.S. consumer confidence up as outlook brightens
Tuesday October 14, 8:28 am ET

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Americans, looking forward to better times, felt more confident in October about President Bush's economic policies, but the job market continued to be a major worry, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

Investor's Business Daily and TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence said their monthly economic optimism index edged up to 53.3 in October from 52.5 in the preceding month.

Americans became resolute in their opinions on the economy's potential, as the outlook component, which measures views on the economy's prospects six months from now, recovered from a 4.3 point decline in September and finished at 52.8 in October. The report said that recent good news on the labor front has emboldened consumers, though jobs growth is still a source of worry.

The federal policy component, which gauges consumers' views on the effectiveness of government policies, inched up in October to 48.2 from September's reading of 47.4, the lowest level since U.S. President George W. Bush took office in January 2001.

The personal financial outlook, which gauges how respondents feel about their personal finances in the next six months, dipped to 58.8 in October from 59.1 in September.

The survey, which is based on over 900 interviews, was conducted in the first week of October. TechnoMetrica says it is the first reading of consumer confidence each month and predicts with 90 percent reliability changes in the better known Conference Board and University of Michigan surveys.

[Starwind]

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