Recent Updates
- Denmark: Import/Export Prices (Oct), CPI, HICP (Nov)
- Belarus: Foreign Trade (Oct)
- Estonia: Trade by Commodity (Oct)
- Estonia: Trade by Country (Oct)
- Netherlands: Industrial Production (Oct)
- India: Commercial Bank Survey (Oct)
- Indonesia: Wholesale Rice Price (Nov)
- Korea: Foreign Investment in Capital Market (Nov), Overseas Direct Investment (Sep), Electricity Consumption (Oct)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Wholesale Inventories Grow While Sales Decline
Wholesale inventories increased 0.8% month-on-month (6.9% year-over-year) during October...
U.S. Consumer Credit Usage Expands
Consumer credit outstanding increased $25.38 billion during October...
German IP Takes Surprising October Slip
Germany's industrial production slowed to a gain of only 0.1% in September then dropped by 0.5% in October...
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens to 10-Year High; Record Goods Shortfall
The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services widened for the fifth consecutive month to $55.49 billion in October...
U.S. ADP Private Sector Payroll Growth Eases
The ADP National Employment Report indicated that private nonfarm payrolls increased 179,000 during November...
by Tom Moeller January 30, 2007
Consumer confidence increased a modest 0.3% in January, according to the Conference Board Survey, following an upwardly revised 4.5% December gain. The increase was to the highest level since March 2002.
The reading of present conditions rose a firmer 2.6% after the 4.1% December increase as the percentage of respondents who viewed business conditions as good rose to 28.1%, the highest since last May. The percentage who viewed jobs as plentiful also rose to 29.9%, the highest since 2001. 
Expectations, however, reversed nearly half of the December gain with a 1.9% decline. Expectations about future income fell the hardest, offset by an uptick in expected employment conditions.
The expected inflation rate in twelve months ticked lower to 4.7%, that was versus expectations during all of last year for a 5.1% rate of inflation in twelve months.
Monetary Policy Inertia and Recent Fed Actions from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco can be found here.
| Conference Board (SA, 1985=100) |
January | December | Y/Y | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Confidence Index | 110.3 | 110.0 | 3.3% | 105.9 | 100.3 | 96.1 |
| Present Conditions | 133.9 | 130.5 | 4.0% | 130. | 116.1 | 94.9 |
| Expectations | 94.5 | 96.3 | 2.6% | 89.7 | 89.7 | 96.9 |
