Consumer Confidence

Reuters

U.S. consumers perked up in March as economic activity gained momentum, sending an index of sentiment about the economy to its highest in almost four years, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The Conference Board, a private research firm, said its measure of consumer sentiment spiked to 107.2, up from an upwardly revised 102.7 last month and well above Wall Street's median forecast for a slight gain.

That's great... but it wouldn't be an economic story without a "but." And it's a doozy.

The report painted a mixed employment picture, however. The proportion of consumers saying jobs were hard to get edged up to 20.7 percent from 20.2 percent, while those saying jobs were plentiful also climbed to 28.4 percent from 27.4.

Pardon my language. What the fuck?

When did we start measuring this number?

"Jobs hard to get?"

I guess there is always a dark cloud somewhere.

Economics and Markets Posted by AlexC at March 29, 2006 12:04 PM