Consumer Confidence Grows, Still Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

For the second month in a row, consumer confidence has improved. Levels of present and expectation situation indexes, along with assessments of current business conditions and the labor market, saw gains as well. From May to June, consumer confidence increased by 12.2 points, the highest monthly gain since November 2011, according to NAHB. The only area where consumers’ outlook did not change was in expecting business conditions to improve. That number remained at 42.6%. All in all, consumer confidence remains below pre-pandemic levels, but consumers are generally less pessimistic. 

After a sharp decline in April, consumer confidence improved in June for a second straight month, as the economy began to reopen and unemployment claims showed improvement.

The Consumer Confidence Index, reported by the Conference Board, rose 12.2 points from 85.9 to 98.1 in June, the largest monthly gain since November 2011. The Present Situation Index jumped 17.8 points from 68.4 to 86.2, and the Expectation Situation Index increased 8.4 points from 97.6 to 106, almost back to February level.

Consumers’ assessment of current business conditions improved in June. The shares of respondents rating business conditions “good” remained slightly rose by 1.0 percentage point at 17.4%, while those claiming business conditions “bad” fell by 8.0 percentage points to 43.2%. 

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