The amounts: A poll of consumers’ feelings reached its highest level in seven months right before the election of former President Donald Trump. People are becoming more optimistic about how the economy will do in 2025.
It went up from 70.5 in October to 73.0 in November, according to a report released Friday by the University of Michigan. Since April, it was the best reading ever.
The most surprising thing is that people are more optimistic about the economy in six months than they have been since the summer of 2021.
The index showed at the end of last month that as the election got closer, Republicans became more sure about the results while Democrats’ confidence fell.
The most recent poll was done before the big night of voting.
Important facts: A measure of what people expect to happen in the next six months went from 74.1 to 78.5, which was the highest number since July 2021.
The expectations measure is still below the high point of 92.1 reached before the pandemic.
One measure of what people think about the economy, on the other hand, dropped from 64.9 last month to 64.4 this month.
The average American thinks that inflation will be 2.6% over the next twelve months. Based on the consumer price index, the rate of inflation right now is 2.4%.
Most of the time, the business looks very good. The rate of growth is faster than average, and unemployment is low.
Even though inflation has slowed since its 40-year high, Americans are still angry about how quickly prices have been going up for years. High inflation made it easier for Trump to win the presidency again.
In the future: Robert Frick, a corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said, “Consumers are expecting economic progress for them, such as lower interest rates and slower inflation.”
“It will be interesting to see if this confidence leads to more spending by consumers, especially since so many of them are running out of credit and savings.”
