Economic Snapshot: Consumer confidence up after two-month decline

Consumer confidence, which has decreased in May for the second consecutive month, jumped from 92.4 to 98.0 in June.

The Present Situation Index increased from 113.2 to 118.3 and the Expectations Index rose from 78.5 to 84.5 in June.

Consumers who stated business conditions are “good” increased slightly from 26.1 to 26.9 percent and those saying business conditions are “bad” decreased from 21.4 percent to 17.7 percent. Those claiming jobs are “plentiful” declined from 24.5 percent to 23.4 percent; however, those claiming jobs are “hard to get” also decreased from 24.5 percent to 23.3 percent.

Those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased from 15.0 percent to 16.8 percent and those expecting business conditions to worsen decreased slightly, from 11.7 percent to 11.4 percent.

The percentage of consumers anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased from 12.5 percent to 14.2 percent and those anticipating fewer jobs decreased marginally from 18.2 percent to 17.9 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase improved from 16.5 percent to 18.2 percent and the proportion expecting a reduction dipped from 12.6 percent to 11.5 percent.

GDP

Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2016, according to the “third” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2015, real GDP increased 1.4 percent.

The estimate released this week is based on more complete source data than were available for the previous estimates. With the third estimate for the first quarter, the general picture of economic growth remains the same; exports increased more than previously estimated.