Consumer sentiment pivoted positively this week, with Americans’ ratings of their personal finances posting their largest single-week gain in six years and perceptions of the buying climate advancing for a second week.
Those shifts lift the weekly Consumer Comfort Index 2.4 points in two weeks, to 50.3 on its 0-100 scale – countering what had been its largest two-month decline since the onset of the pandemic, a 10.3-point loss from late August to late October.
With ground still to cover, the CCI is 7.9 points short of its pandemic-era high in late August, while still 5.9 points better than its starting point this year.
Driving the turnaround are Americans’ assessments of their own finances, up 4.5 points in two weeks, including 3.0 points this week alone, the most in a week since January 2015. That partially reverses a nine-week, 10.1-point drop in the subindex, now 65.4, 5.6 points below its pandemic peak Aug. 22.
Assessments of the buying climate are up 2.8 points in two weeks after a 9.9-point tumble from mid-September to late October. At 42.8, the subindex is 7.9 points short of its pandemic high in mid-June and just 1.7 points better than at the start of the year.
The CCI’s third gauge, based on ratings of the national economy, is essentially unchanged for a second week, at 42.7, after dropping 12.1 points in the previous two months. That’s far below its pandemic peak of 54.8 in late August, while still substantially improved from early January, 34.0.
Among groups, improved ratings of personal finances are concentrated among Republicans (+12.3 points in two weeks), adults age 65 or older (+11.1) and those with some college education or more (+6.3). These groups similarly drive gains in the overall index.
The index’s descent through late October corresponds with rising consumer prices, up 6.2 percent year-over-year, the largest rise since 1990. That said, there was positive movement in other close correlates of the CCI, including strong job growth last month and an extended winning streak in the stock market. The gain in the latest CCI reading, based on a four-week rolling average, includes interviews through November 7.
