Consumer Sentiment increases in December

The preliminary December Reuters / University of Michigan consumer sentiment index increased to 67.7, (typo corrected) up from the November reading of 64.1.


Click on graph for larger image.

Consumer sentiment is usually impacted by employment (and the unemployment rate) and gasoline prices.

However the recent sharp decline was event driven (the debt ceiling debate), and sentiment has rebounded as expected. Note: Back in August I looked at event driven declines in consumer sentiment.

Sentiment is still very weak, although above the consensus forecast of 66.0.