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Michigan sentiment up but ...
Closely watched measure of consumer confidence rose in October yet remains below its spring peak.
October 17, 2003: 2:57 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - A closely watched measure of consumer confidence in the United States rose in October, according to a published report Friday, beating Wall Street expectations.

The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for the month rose to 89.4 from 87.7 in September, according to market sources quoted by Reuters. Economists, on average, expected a reading of 88.2, according to Briefing.com.

October's reading was only slightly better than the August reading of 89.3. The index peaked in May, following a war-related slump in the spring, and has been rising and falling since.

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Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
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The university's "current conditions" index, measuring consumers' feelings about the current state of the economy, rose to 102.2 from 98.4 in September, Reuters said. The "expectations" index, looking into the future, rose to 81.2 from 80.8, according to Reuters.

U.S. stock prices fell after the news, while Treasury bond prices rose.

Wall Street pays close attention to consumer spending, which makes up more than two-thirds of the total economy.

The economy has shown encouraging signs of strength lately, led by a surge in consumer spending that may have pushed third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth to its fastest pace in four years.

But GDP growth will likely slow down again in the fourth quarter, and the labor market has shown few signs of full recovery. Some economists worry consumers will be reluctant to go on spending sprees if the job market doesn't show significant improvement.

Certainly, a lack of job growth has weighed on consumer sentiment, but consumers don't always spend the way they feel -- confidence hit rock-bottom immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but consumers still responded eagerly to sales incentives, most notably the zero-percent financing offered by automakers.  Top of page




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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.