US consumer confidence improves
LUCIA MUTIKANI
US consumer confidence increased in February, with households slightly more upbeat about the labour market amid declining new Covid-19 infections and expectations for additional money from the government to help the economy's recovery from the pandemic.
The survey from the Conference Board on Tuesday also showed consumers warming up to overseas vacations, though fewer intended to purchase homes, automobiles and other big-ticket items over the next six months.
Consumers anticipated higher inflation as well. This fits in with economists' predictions that demand will swing back to services from goods by summer as more Americans get vaccinated, and boost price pressures.
There are concerns in some quarters that very accommodative fiscal and monetary policy will ignite inflation this year. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has played down these fears, citing three decades of lower and stable inflation.
On Tuesday, Powell told lawmakers that the US central bank would keep interest rates low and continue to pump money into the economy through bond purchases "at least at the current pace until we make substantial further progress towards our goals which we have not really been making."
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to a reading of 91.3 this month from 88.9 in January. Confidence remains well below its lofty reading of 132.6 last February.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index nudging up to a reading of 90. The cut-off date for the survey was Feb. 11 and did not fully capture the winter storm, which knocked out electric power in Texas, or the easing of dining restrictions in New York city. -Nampa/Reuters
US consumer confidence increased in February, with households slightly more upbeat about the labour market amid declining new Covid-19 infections and expectations for additional money from the government to help the economy's recovery from the pandemic.
The survey from the Conference Board on Tuesday also showed consumers warming up to overseas vacations, though fewer intended to purchase homes, automobiles and other big-ticket items over the next six months.
Consumers anticipated higher inflation as well. This fits in with economists' predictions that demand will swing back to services from goods by summer as more Americans get vaccinated, and boost price pressures.
There are concerns in some quarters that very accommodative fiscal and monetary policy will ignite inflation this year. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has played down these fears, citing three decades of lower and stable inflation.
On Tuesday, Powell told lawmakers that the US central bank would keep interest rates low and continue to pump money into the economy through bond purchases "at least at the current pace until we make substantial further progress towards our goals which we have not really been making."
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to a reading of 91.3 this month from 88.9 in January. Confidence remains well below its lofty reading of 132.6 last February.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index nudging up to a reading of 90. The cut-off date for the survey was Feb. 11 and did not fully capture the winter storm, which knocked out electric power in Texas, or the easing of dining restrictions in New York city. -Nampa/Reuters
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