(Washington) US consumer confidence rose in August, helped by a slowdown in the pace of inflation, according to the final estimate released Friday by the University of Michigan.
Posted at 11:07 a.m.
The index stood at 58.2 points, up 13% from July, and well above the 55.3 points forecast by a consensus of analysts.
“The rise in consumer confidence is seen across all age, education, wage, geographic origin and political affiliation categories and can be attributed to the recent deceleration in inflation,” said said Joanne Hsu, the director of the index, in a press release.
“Consumers with the lowest wages, who have fewer resources to protect themselves from inflation, reported an increase in their confidence in all components of the indicator,” said Ms.me Hsu.
After hitting a more than 40-year high of 9.1% in June, US one-year inflation slowed in July to 8.5%, according to the consumer price index. CPI published on August 10.
It is generally higher than the PCE index – unveiled on Friday and favored by the Federal Reserve – reporting a price increase of 6.3% in July, against 6.8% in June.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pledged Friday at the central bankers’ conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to continue to fight rising prices, warning that households and businesses would “suffer” but that inaction would have far more serious consequences for the economy.
For Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics, the rise in the University of Michigan index should be interpreted with hindsight.
“The 58.2 point figure in August is an improvement, but it remains historically low,” he commented in a note. “Pricing pressures and economic uncertainty remain elevated, making any prolonged rise in consumer confidence unlikely,” the economist added.