Consumer expectations as measured by the University of Michigan and the Conference Board continue to improve and are close to recent postrecession highs reached in September 2012. Both measures however, remain below levels seen in the second quarter of 2007.

All three measures of expectations improved in the May conference board survey, with consumers' perceptions about business conditions, jobs, and income all improving.

Consumer Confidence Indices Measuring Expectations difference from average level in Q2 2007

Additional detail:

  • The expectations component of University of Michigan survey increased 8.1 points in May, following a 3 point drop in April and a 0.6 point increase in March.
  • The expectations component of the Conference Board survey increased 8.1 points in May, following a 10.6 point increase in April and a 8.7 point increase in March.
  • The future components of both the Conference Board and Reuters/University of Michigan survey use fairly similar underlying questions.