Is the economy finally turning a corner? American consumers seem to think so. The readings for the November consumer confidence index are the strongest we've seen in a long time, with the largest single-month gain since April 2003. As it generally does, Bloomberg News had surveyed economists before the release of the November figure, and not a single one of them predicted the jump would be as large as it turned out to be.
While it's dangerous to read too much into short-term prices swings, the solid early results from the Christmas shopping season combined with the strong consumer readings could be buoying some sectors of the stock market. Among the biggest gainers in the Dow yesterday were consumer bulwarks Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola. The S&P 500 posted its biggest one-day gain in over a month.
It's a good sign that all this is happening even before we get to December. December has historically been the best month for the stock market, which means that we have several indicators in place to end 2011 on a high note.
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