USA: US consumer sentiment surprises positively | Finance and economics

US consumer sentiment surprised positively

The mood scale surprised with a sharp increase in January. Experts had expected a moderate increase.

Posted today at 4:27pm

Consumers evaluated their situation and prospects much better than before.

Photo: Justin Lin/EPA via Keystone

The mood of US consumers improved significantly at the beginning of the year. The index rose to 78.8 points in January from 69.7 points the previous month, the University of Michigan announced Friday in its monthly survey. Economists polled by Reuters had expected only a slight increase to 70 points. Consumers evaluated their situation and prospects much better than before.

Recently, the cost of living in the United States has risen again. The inflation rate rose to 3.4%.

However, consumers' inflation expectations have now lowered: looking ahead to the next 12 months, they expect the inflation rate for goods and services to reach 2.9%. In December, consumers estimated 3.1%.

The US Federal Reserve has fought high inflation with a series of interest rate increases. It recently stopped three times in a row, and, according to observers, it is likely to remain stable until the end of the month. However, the monetary authorities are considering reducing interest rates for the current year.

Reuters

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Nancy Stevens

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