Neilsen Co. Quarterly Assessment of US Consumer Confidence

The Nielsen Co. is out with its quarterly assessment of consumer confidence in the US, which it says shows “the biggest jump in Consumer Confidence since 2008.”

Highlights:

• “The “biggest jump in Consumer Confidence since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008 – Consumer Confidence jumped six points to 83.
• “49% of Americans said their personal financial prospects looked ‘good to excellent,’ up from 43% in the previous quarter and encouraged by signs of an improving labor market.”
• “42% said they plan to spend on discretionary items this year, a 6-point rise from Q4 2012 and a welcomed increase from the average of 33 percent over the past three years.”
• “23% of Americans said they intended to spend on home improvement and decorating projects (an increase of 6 points compared to Q4 2012) … 22% of respondents plan on taking a vacation (an increase of 2 percentage points compared to Q4 2012) … 22% of Americans plan on spending on out of home entertainment (an increase of 2 percentage points compared to Q4 2012) … 25% of Americans plan on buying new clothes (a decline from 27% reported in Q4 2012).”

However, a discordant note was sounded in the report, which says that “78% of Americans said they believed they were in a recession, a quarterly increase of 4 points, but demonstrated a cautious eagerness to spend.”

James Russo, senior vice president, Global Consumer Insights, Nielsen, suggests that this is because “more than three-quarters of Americans are still feeling the effects” of the recession, “with close to two-thirds of Americans living pay check to pay check.”