Consumer Confidence Rebounds in February

After ""taking a hit"":https://themreport.com/articles/conference-board-consumer-confidence-crashes-in-january-2013-01-29 from January's payroll tax hike, consumer confidence recovered somewhat in February, according to ""The Conference Board's"":http://www.conference-board.org/ Consumer Confidence Index.

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The overall index climbed more than 10 points in February, settling at 69.6 from January's 58.4.

""Consumer confidence rebounded in February as the shock effect caused by the fiscal cliff uncertainty and payroll tax cuts appears to have abated,"" said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board. ""Consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions is more positive than last month. Looking ahead, consumers are cautiously optimistic about the outlook for business and labor market conditions.""

The Present Situation Index, a measure of consumer sentiment regarding present-day conditions, improved from 56.2 in January to 63.3 in February as respondents expressed greater optimism in the business world. According to The Conference Board, the number of those claiming business conditions are ""good"" increased 2 percentage points to 18.1 percent, while the number of those stating conditions are ""bad"" fell from 28.4 percent to 27.8 percent.

Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was mixed, however. Those saying jobs are ""plentiful"" increased to 10.5 percent from 8.5 percent previously, while those claiming jobs are ""hard to get"" edged up to 37.0 percent from 36.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the Expectations Index--a measure of optimism for the near future--improved nearly 14 points, rising to 73.8. Those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months increased to 18.9 percent from 15.6 percent previously, while those expecting conditions to deteriorate declined 3.9 percentage points to 16.5 percent.

Consumers' outlook for the labor market was also positive. Those anticipating more jobs in the coming months improved to 16.7 percent from 14.4 percent in January, while those expecting fewer jobs decreased to 21.5 percent from 26.7 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase rose to 15.7 percent, while those anticipating a drop in income fell to 19.6 percent.