The Conference Board index roars!

The Conference Board index roars!

The Conference Board headline index is up over the past four months so vigorously that it is the second largest four-month climb in the 405 month history of the index (nearly 24 years).

While the durable goods index may have raised some questions today the Conference Board report has blown away any fears we might have that recovery was going to start slipping away.

Even so the details of the confidence survey show that there is still a lot of work to do

 

Buying plans are uniformly weak. They are- cut anyway you want to - in the bottom single digits of their respective queues and not much better in terms of their historic high-low range standings.

On balance the economy is stirring we see consumer confidence in the U of M framework is improving the Bloomberg weekly survey is near a four-year high and the Conference Board survey now has joined the good-news club. Expectations for jobs are now in true normal territory. Income expectations are, however, poor and buying plans are even worse.

While there are some clear and decisive improvements there is still a long ways to go. Still this report is encouraging.