President Donald Trump looks to be in a good mood early Wednesday morning, tweeting his approval of U.S. consumer confidence reaching its highest level in 18 years during the month of September, saying there’s “Way more to go!”
Consumer confidence hits an 18 year high, close to breaking the all-time record. A big jump from last 8 years. People are excited about the USA again! We are getting Bigger and Richer and Stronger. WAY MORE TO GO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2018
Business research firm The Conference Board said Tuesday its consumer confidence index hit 138.4 during the month of September, up from 134.7 in August. It was the highest rating since September of 2000 during Bill Clinton’s second term in office when the tech boom of the 1990s was still making a lot of people wealthy.
The consumer confidence index measures consumers’ assessment of ongoing economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months.
“These historically high confidence levels should continue to support healthy consumer spending, and should be welcome news for retailers as they begin gearing up for the holiday season,” said Lynn Franco, the Conference Board’s director of economic indicators.
The U.S.’s gross domestic product grew at a 4.2 percent clip for the April-July quarter, the fastest rate in about four years. Unemployment has dipped to 3.9 percent, which is the lowest number in nearly 50 years — which also didn’t go unnoticed by Trump on Wednesday.
Jobless Claims fell to their lowest level in 49 years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 26, 2018
Of the people responding to the Conference Board survey, 45.7 percent said jobs were “plentiful,” which is the most since January of 2007.
“Knowing that the job market is strong, knowing that one has a regular paycheck, does wonders for confidence,” said Jennifer Lee, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Confidence is so high, retailers expect a holiday shopping boom this season. The only cloud on the horizon is the unknown effects the ongoing trade war and tariffs spats with China and several of the U.S.’s top top trading partners.
“We are kind of in a little bit of a Goldilocks moment in the economy. I think things are really strong for the consumer,” said David Jaffe, chief executive of Ascena Retail Group Inc., during an earnings call this week. “The tariffs, while it’s not going to impact apparel very much, haven’t really hit yet. We’ve seen unemployment go down. What we’re seeing, I think, is maybe a little bit of a rebound due to a lack of shopping for apparel over the last couple of years.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
