Ann Arbor, MI, November 12--The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rose to 95.5 from 91.7 in October. The increase was the first since July, and followed a four-point jump in the university's October index between the preliminary release Oct. 15 and the final report on Oct. 29.
Economists, on average, expected a reading of 103.3.
The current conditions element of the index, a measure of how consumers feel about the present state of the economy, dropped to 100.4 in February from a revised 109.5 in January.
The expectations index, measuring consumers' hopes for the near future, fell to 88.4 from 100.1 in January
