Survey: consumer sentiment on the rise

Consumer sentiment rose in October to its highest level since 2007, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. 

|
SoldAtTheTop
This chart shows consumer sentiment since 2000 according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. Consumer sentiment reached a high not seen since 2007 in October 2012.

Today's early release of the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers for October indicated an increase in consumer sentiment from the prior month with a reading of 83.1, the highest level seen since September 2007, and improvement on an annual basis with the level increasing a notable 36.68% while one year inflation expectations declined to 3.1%. 

The Index of Consumer Expectations (a component of the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators) rose to 79.5, and the Current Economic Conditions Index rose to 88.6. 

It's important to recognize that consumer sentiment has seriously eroded over the past few months with the current results remaining near levels not seen since 1980, a major indication that consumers are in the process of tightening even further on spending. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Survey: consumer sentiment on the rise
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Paper-Economy/2012/1012/Survey-consumer-sentiment-on-the-rise
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe