U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Improves In March

(RTTNews) - Consumer confidence in the U.S. unexpectedly improved in the month of March, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index inched up to 91.8 in March from a downwardly revised 91.0 in February.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to fall to 88.5 from the 91.2 originally reported for the previous month.

"Consumer confidence ticked up again in March, as a modest improvement in consumers' views of current conditions outweighed a slight downshift in expectations for the future," said Dana M Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board.

"Three of five components of the Index firmed in March, and overall confidence improved modestly for a second month," she added. "Nonetheless, the Index has been on a general downward trend since 2021."

The report said the present situation index jumped to 123.3 in March from 118.7 in February, while the expectations index fell to 70.9 in March from 72.6 in February.

A separate report released by the University of Michigan last Friday showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by more than previously estimated in the month of March.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for March was downwardly revised to 53.3 from a preliminary reading of 55.5. Economists had expected the index to be downwardly revised to 54.0.

With the bigger than expected downward revision, the consumer sentiment index is well below February's final reading of 56.6.