A near-record high in Americans’ ratings of their personal finances and improved views of the buying climate lifted the Consumer Comfort Index to a pandemic-era high this week, extending a five-week advance despite the extensive spread of the coronavirus Delta variant.

The advance comes as major stock market indices hit record highs and the U.S. weekly jobless rate fell to a 17-month low. Both are strong correlates of consumer sentiment.

The CCI is up 5.7 points in five weeks – its largest rally since coronavirus vaccines became widely available to most Americans four months ago – to a 17-month high of 57.2 on its 0-100 scale. It’s recovered 22.5 points since bottoming out last May, now just 5.8 points short of its pre-pandemic level.

Leading the CCI’s charge, public ratings of whether or not it’s a good time to buy things are up 2.6 points this week and 4.5 points in two weeks after holding steady through July and early August. At 49.8, the subindex is approaching its pandemic high, 50.7, last reached in mid-June.

Americans’ ratings of their personal finances are up a cumulative 7.6 points in six weeks to a subindex score of 71.0, nearly matching its record in weekly surveys since late 1985, 71.2 in January 2020.

The CCI’s third gauge, based on ratings of the national economy, is steady at 50.9, near its pandemic high of 52.2 last week. Lagging other gauges, the national economy subindex is 16.2 points short of its pre-pandemic level, compared with 3.5 points for the buying climate gauge and, as noted, a fully-recovered personal finances subindex.

Among groups, the CCI among Americans with annual household incomes less than $50,000 improved markedly in the past five weeks, up 11.2 points to 47.0, nearly reversing a mid-June to mid-July drop. It’s also up 8.0 points in four weeks, to 65.8, among Americans in the $50,000-$100,000 bracket, while down a slight 6.4 points in three weeks among those earning more than $100,000.