Consumer Confidence, Weekly Sales Spring Ahead

The change in seasons brought improvements in both consumer confidence and weekly sales. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index climbed above the 100 mark in March, after falling below it in February. The Conference Board put the public’s view of economic conditions at 101.3, up from a revised 98.8 in February but still below the 103.8 recorded in January. The January figure was the highest since August 2007, when the figure reached 105.6 in the days before the Great Recession. Not all indications were positive. While the Expectations Index, which measures anticipated conditions in the next six months, rose to 96 from 90, the Present Situation Index slumped for the second straight month, declining to 109.1 from 112.1 in February. Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said the decline in optimism about current conditions suggests “that growth may have softened in Q1, and doesn’t appear to be gaining any significant momentum heading into the spring months.” She said he overall increase for March “was driven by an improved short-term outlook for both employment and income prospects. Consumers were less upbeat about business conditions.” The percentage of consumers expecting an improvement in business conditions declined to 16.7 percent from 17.6 percent in

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