Surprise drop in US consumer confidence
The Conference Board released January data on the Consumer Confidence Index, which measures the trends of American consumers.
Accordingly, consumer confidence index decreased by 1.9 points to 107.1 in January compared to the previous month.
market expectations under Consumer Confidence, which was realized, was estimated to take the value of 109 in this period. Consumer confidence for December was revised to 109.
The current situation index, which reflects American consumers’ assessments of current job and labor market conditions, rose 3.5 points to 150.9 in January.
The expectations index, which reflects short-term evaluations for the future, decreased by 5.6 points to 77.8 in the same period.
Ataman Özyıldırım, Senior Economy Director of the Conference Board, whose views were included in the statement, pointed out that despite the decline this month, consumer confidence remained above the July data, the lowest level of 2022.
Pointing out that the evaluations of consumers regarding the current economic and labor market conditions improved at the beginning of 2023, Özyıldırım stated that the expectations index decreased in January as a reflection of the concerns about the economy for the next six months.
Özyıldırım noted that the inflation expectations of consumers rose from 6.6 percent to 6.8 percent, but this rate was lower than the 7.9 percent level seen in June last year.
