Consumer sentiment in the US climbed last week by the most since January 2015 on one of the biggest gains ever recorded for Americans’ attitudes about the economy, according to figures from the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index released Thursday.
The comfort gauge rose to 43.9, the highest level since early September, from 41.3. The 2.6 point increase was the largest since period ended Jan. 25, 2015.
Big Picture
The broad-based brightening of consumers’ attitudes is reassuring after index readings languished over the past two months, and may indicate household spending will remain steady heading into the holiday-shopping season.
At the same time, the latest reading marks the biggest one-week jump since early last year might be difficult to sustain absent a more meaningful boost to wages. Ahead of the U.S. election on Nov. 8, Americans of all political affiliations registered greater optimism, though the gap between Democrats and Republicans widened to the largest in nine weeks.
Comfort among political independents jumped 3.4 points, while it rose 3.2 points for Democrats and 1.5 points among Republicans.
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