Consumers Confidence is Up. But Will It Last?

Last week’s stock market cave-in took the world by storm, and threatened to slow the growth of the global economy. However, we also got word that American consumers are feeling – and doing – a bit better these days.

The Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index rebounded strongly in August, after falling in July. This reading was based on consumers having a much more favorable assessment of both their current and near-term future conditions.

However, the readings were mostly taken before the stock market crisis moved across the globe, and created chicken-little headlines, (“The sky is falling! The Sky is falling! Braaaaak”), in the U.S.

How will consumers feel in September?

There are concrete reasons for consumers to be optimistic: according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income increased $67.1 billion, or 0.4%, and disposable personal income (DPI) increased $61.5 billion, or 0.5 percent, during July.

Couple that with three decent jobs reports, and unemployment down to 5.3%, and consumers could be forgiven for feeling perky – even with the tumult happening on the stock markets of the world.