The Conference Board has released its latest Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) reading, showing a May preliminary reading of 98.0 compared to the estimate for 87.1 and up by 12.3 points from 85.7 in April. The CCI survey was conducted through May 19, with roughly half of the responses collected after the U.S. announced a tariff reduction pause on China on May 12.
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“Consumers were less pessimistic about business conditions and job availability over the next six months and regained optimism about future income prospects,” said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board.
Employment Outlook Still Cloudy Despite Overall Confidence Boost
At the same time, the outlook for job availability remains unsteady, but has showed signs of improvement, and has now fallen for five consecutive months based on the preliminary results. 18.6% of polled consumers said that jobs were “hard to get” compared to 17.5% last month. 26.6% of polled consumers expected fewer jobs in the future, down from 32.4%.
The S&P 500 (SPX) is responding well to the news and is up by 1.54% on Monday.
