Index finds consumer sentiment on the rise

09.12.09
By Lewis Green

Although it seems like Americans continue to get negative news about the economy, their confidence appears to be increasing, which leads to hope that credit card debt will begin to be paid off and they will have more money to put toward home loans in coming months.

The preliminary index of sentiment for the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers finds that Americans appear to be feeling better about the economy as the index rose 4.3 points - a surprising increase for most analysts.

Economic analysts anticipated that September's index would rise from 65.7 in August to 67.3 , but the actual figure marks the highest level since June of this year.

Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse Holdings in New York, says this points to the positive feelings many Americans have about the direction the economy is headed.

"We can be encouraged that consumer sentiment is healing," he told Bloomberg. "Good news continues to come through, bad news continues to diminish. It's better, but it's not good yet."

However, this survey seems to be at odds with the Consumer Reports Sentiment Index which was released this week and found that sentiment had fallen to its lowest level since October of last year.

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Consumers are gaining confidence according to a new index