U.S. consumer sentiment index continues to stay strong in November

The U.S. University of Michigan consumer confidence remains solid in November. The consumer sentiment index came in at 98.3, widely unchanged from October’s print of 98.6. The outturn was better than expectations of 96.5. The current conditions and expectations indices were just slightly lower in November.

On the inflation side, the short-term inflation expectations dropped by one tenth to 2.8 percent. However, long-term inflation expectations rose two-tenths to 2.6 percent. Overall, today’s report adds to evidence that consumer confidence continues to be rather resilient, in spite of tariff-related uncertainty and the recent stock market volatility.

The press release stated that there was only a one-day overlap after the announcement of the mid-term election results and for those few respondents, expectations were identical to the data collected earlier in the month, which is not surprising given that the election outcome was greatly as expected.

Looking at details, consumers’ assessment of their current income levels as compared to a year ago remains widely positive, while almost 60 percent of them believe that their income levels in the next year or two will either surpass or match price rises. Amongst the working-age population, the expected annual change in nominal income, as of November, stands close to a decade high. This is in line with their positive assessment of labor market conditions. Meanwhile, consumers also expect rising inflation and higher interest rates, which are expected to partially weigh on sentiment, said Barclays.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bullish at 151.49. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex