US Consumer Confidence Rises to a 5 Year High

Americans’ confidence in the economy jumped in May to a five-year high, lifted by a better outlook for hiring and business conditions. The increase suggests consumers may keep boosting economic growth this year.

The Conference Board, a New York-based private research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose in May to 76.2. That’s up from a reading of 69.0 in April and the highest since February 2008.

The jump in confidence followed a separate report showing the housing recovery is strengthening.

Home prices jumped 10.9 per cent in March compared with a year ago, the most since April 2006, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller 20-city index. All 20 cities showed year-over-year gains.

The reports contributed to a strong opening on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average surged more than 200 points in the first hour of trading. Broader indexes also jumped.

Consumers’ confidence in the economy is watched closely because their spending accounts for about 70 per cent of U.S. economic activity.

via GlobalNews

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza