Consumers Remain Confident

In the midst of a contentious presidential election season, consumer confidence in the U.S. is on the rise, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Index data released Monday by Nielsen.

Despite the uncertainty and starkly contrasting rhetoric around key economic issues, Americans remained optimistic in the second quarter with a with a three-point confidence increase to 113. In contrast, the global consumer confidence index for the same period was flat at 98.

Established in 2005, the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index is fielded quarterly in 63 countries to measure the perceptions of local job prospects, personal finances, immediate spending intentions and related economic issues of real consumers around the world. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, respectively.

U.S. Highlights:

• U.S. consumer confidence maintained positive momentum in the second quarter, increasing three points to 113 from the previous quarter.
• U.S. confidence has been at or above the optimism baseline of 100 for more than two years (since Q1 2014).
• Despite public discourse surrounding refugees, immigration and the ongoing threat of terrorism, Americans listed the economy (34%) as their biggest or second biggest concern. Health (17%), terrorism (17%), debt (15%) and job security (14%) were also cited by Americans as their biggest or second-biggest concern.
• Anxieties about political stability increased 10 percentage points from last year (Q2 2015) to 14% of respondents in the second quarter—a level that held steady from the first quarter of 2016.
• More than half of U.S respondents were confident that personal finances (70%), immediate spending intentions (58%) and job prospects (56%) would be good or excellent in the next 12 months—each indicator showed improvement from the first quarter.
• Personal finance sentiment and immediate spending intentions increased two percentage points each in the second quarter and the outlook for jobs rose four percentage points.

"With U.S. unemployment at a rate of 5% or below since August 2015 and the housing market continuing to expand, American consumers have been spending," said Louise Keely, senior vice president, Nielsen, and president, The Demand Institute. "However, not all sectors are benefiting equally. Packaged goods retail sectors and value oriented retail channels, in particular, are experiencing slower growth than that of overall consumer spending."