Independents’ economic confidence improved four percentage points, to -20, in October, the highest monthly level of confidence among this group since 2008. Democrats also saw a gain of four points last month, to 27, a four-year high. Republicans’ economic confidence held steady at -59, tied with September for the lowest […] Read more »

Consumer confidence last week held close to a six-month high as U.S. households became less pessimistic about the state of the economy. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was minus 34.7 in the period ended Oct. 28 after improving the previous week to minus 34.6, the highest since mid-April. The measure […] Read more »

Consumers were more optimistic in the most recent survey about prospects for their own personal finances, according to University of Michigan economist Richard Curtin, director of the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers. … Consumers also anticipated continued improvement in the national economy, and expected the unemployment rate to […] Read more »

Consumer confidence last week reached a six-month high as U.S. households became less pessimistic about the economy. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to minus 34.6 in the period ended Oct. 21, the eighth gain in the last nine weeks, from minus 34.8 the previous period. Americans’ views of economy […] Read more »

For the first time in more than five years, slightly more Americans are feeling financially better off, rather than worse off, compared with a year ago, by 38% to 34%. This represents a significant improvement since May of President Barack Obama’s first year as president, when the majority — 54% […] Read more »

Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index declined slightly to -19 for the week ending Oct. 21, from -17 the week prior. Despite the slip, this is little changed from the trend since the week of Sept. 3, when confidence significantly improved from one of the lowest points of the year. … […] Read more »