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Economy in Brief
U.S. Mortgage Applications Decline as Interest Rates Continue to Increase
The MBA Mortgage Loan Applications Index declined 11.4%...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Increases in February
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased 2.7% (-31.1% y/y) to 91.3 during February...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Rise Markedly
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index increased 1.1% m/m in December...
U.S. Energy Prices Surge as Texas Freeze Limits Supply
The price of regular gasoline strengthened to $2.63 per gallon (6.8% y/y) in the week ended February 22...
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The EMU headline rose by 0.8% in January, its first year-on-year gain in six months...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller November 23, 2005
The November reading of consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan rose 10.0% m/m to 81.6, adding a bit to the improvement through mid-month. Consensus expectations had been for a rise to 81.0.
During the last ten years there has been a 78% correlation between the level of consumer sentiment and the y/y change in real consumer spending.
Improved expectations fostered the m/m rise. The index of Consumer expectations rose 10.1% as expected business conditions during the next year surged 22.1% while expectations for personal finances recovered all of the prior month's drop. The mean expected inflation rate for the next twelve months fell further to 4.1% from 5.5% expected in October & September.
The current conditions index held onto the improvement through mid-month and rose 9.9% versus October. The reading of personal finances rose 7.3% and reversed all of the October decline and the reading of buying conditions for large household goods jumped 12.9% to the highest level since August.
The University of Michigan survey is not seasonally adjusted.The mid-month survey is based on telephone interviews with 250 households nationwide on personal finances and business and buying conditions. The survey is expanded to a total of 500 interviews at month end.
Why Hasn't the Jump in Oil Prices Led to a Recession? from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is available here.
University of Michigan | Nov (Final) | Nov (Prelim) | Oct | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Consumer Sentiment | 81.6 | 79.9 | 74.2 | -12.1% | 95.2 | 87.6 | 89.6 |
Current Conditions | 100.2 | 100.3 | 91.2 | -4.3% | 105.6 | 97.2 | 97.5 |
Expectations | 69.6 | 66.8 | 63.2 | -18.3% | 88.5 | 81.4 | 84.6 |