Consumer Sentiment Rose 2.5% in Early December

Ann Arbor, MI, December 6, 2019-Consumer sentiment rose 2.5% to 99.2 in early December, according to the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers.

This represents a 0.9% increase year over year. 

“Consumer sentiment rose to the upper end of the favorable range it has traveled since the start of 2017,” says Survey of Consumers chief economist, Richard Curtin. “The Sentiment Index has averaged 97.0 in the past three years, the highest sustained level since the all-time record in the Clinton administration. Nearly all of the early December gain was among upper income households, who also reported near record gains in household wealth, largely due to increased stock prices. Indeed, among households with incomes in the top third of the distribution, their overall assessment of their current finances was the third highest in the past twenty years. These gains were aided by declining inflation expectations, with long term inflation expectations returning to an all-time low.”