Consumers’ outlook on the U.S. economy improved further in September, to the highest level since the waning days of the dot-com boom. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence rose to 138.4, up from 134.7 in August. The consumer confidence index was last higher 18 years ago, in September 2000.
In a sign of optimism on the labor market, the labor differential, measuring the gap between respondents saying jobs are plentiful and those saying jobs are hard to get, widened for a third month to 32.5 percentage points. That’s the biggest difference since January 2001.
Just about all the future readings were strongly positive. For example, 27.6 percent of consumers said they expect better business conditions in next six months, up from 24.4 percent in August. That's the highest that number has been since December 2003.
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