Comments following the rather upbeat survey
Projects 2.5% gain in consumer spending in 2016
May boost spending forecast if sentiment holds up
Gain in expectations was broad based
- It's a good sign that the sentiment gain was led by lower-income
- Consumers don't see gasoline prices rising soon (maybe they should check oil prices first)
- Sentiment could reach new expansion highs soon
- It's most likely to linger around this level
- Sentiment could be hurt by presidential elections
- Consumers will remain a mainstay of the economy
I don't think anyone should get overly excited about all today's data until we see a broad sustained trend. The sentiment survey has been strong before while retail sales underperformed.
