Confidence in US economy at 22-month high - report

Biz.Yahoo/Reuters ^ | January 13, 2004

[Starwind]

Confidence in US economy at 22-month high - report

Tuesday January 13, 9:59 am ET

NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Americans felt better about the U.S. economy in the first week of January than they had since the spring of 2002, a survey showed on Tuesday.

Investor's Business Daily and TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence said their economic optimism index rose to 60.6 in January from 58.8 in December. The index stands at a level not reached since March 2002 when it hit 62.9.

The gauge's personal financial outlook component, which measures how respondents feel about their own finances six months hence, registered the largest gain, rising 2.5 points to 65.3, a new high for the component.

The six-month economic outlook component, a measure of how consumers feel about the economy's potential in the next six months, climbed 2 points to 62.8. The outlook is 2 points below the all-time high of 64.8 reached in March 2002, suggesting consumer confidence is stable as well as strong.

The federal economic policies component rose modestly, up 0.8 points to 53.8. The surprisingly weak employment report on Friday may have negatively affected enthusiasm about the broad strength of the economy, the report said.

The survey, which is based on over 900 interviews, was conducted last week. TechnoMetrica said it predicts with 90 percent reliability changes in the better-known Conference Board and University of Michigan consumer confidence surveys.

[Starwind]

Fyi...

[Uncle Hal]

More good news for the GOP and bad news for the Democrats. I hope it continues for the next 10 months.

[RoseofTexas]

Hmmmm?..one report says, confidence dips and this says confidence high! So which one is it? I personally think the economy is going into some rough waters till election time. The press whores will do all they can to depress the American people's confidence. Pray that God will send his angels to remove the smoke screen power the media whores have on the American folk!

[benCartwright]

Come on..... What continues?...... Where is the economic upturn?......who are they polling?.....nobody with any brains evidently. The dollar is sucking BIG TIME....jobs are non-existent.....My investments made a measly profit this quarter.....made back about %15 of the total amount I have lost over the last two years. Why is it bad for democrats?.....aren't we ALL in this mess.....was the tax cuts worth it?.....I have to admit, I enjoyed my 7K return immensly, but I have lost much more than that over the last two years. The REAL economic figures tell a completely different story.

[upcountryhorseman]

Contrarians take notice!