US consumer confidence rises in September, but falls short of forecasts
US consumer confidence strengthened in September, but by less than had initially been thought, the results of a widely-followed survey revealed.
The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index improved from a reading of 96.2 for August to 100.1 in September, but nevertheless fell short of economists' forecasts for a reading of 100.4.
It was also below a preliminary print of 100.8.
Even so, it was only the third time since 2004 that it had risen past 100.0.
Both consumers assessment of current conditions and their outlook improved last month, especially the former.
The sub-index of current economic conditions improved from a reading of 110.3 in August to 115.2 for September, with a separate gauge that tracks their expectations rising from 87.1 to 90.5.
To take note of, the improved sentiment was most evident among households in the bottom third of the income distribution, whose index value of 96.3 was at its highest since November 2000 last month.
Sentiment among households in the top third of the distribution on the other hand fell by 8.1% over the past seven months after reaching its cyclical peak of 111.9 in February, the survey's chief economist, Richard Curtin, said.
"Despite a lessening in September of the expected size of gains in nominal incomes, inflation expectations also declined, acting to offset concerns about declining living standards.
"The single issue that was cited as having a potential negative impact on the economy was tariffs. Concerns about the negative impact of tariffs were cited by nearly one-third of all consumers in September. Those that voiced negative views of tariffs also held much less favourable prospects for the economy and held inflation expectations that were 0.6 of a percentage point higher than those who didn't mention tariffs."
Commenting on Friday's report, Pooja Sriram at Barclays Research said: "That said, the September report marks a healthy pickup in sentiment relative to August, attributable to more favourable perceptions of both current and future economic conditions."