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The numbers: A magnitude of consumer certainty rose in Feb to within a wheeze of a postrecession high, reflecting a remarkably high turn of certainty among Americans about their possess finances and a U.S. economy scarcely 11 years after a final recession.
The consumer view consult climbed to 100.9 in Feb from 99.8 final month, according to a University of Michigan. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had foresee a prosaic reading.
The rough Feb formula fell only brief of a 101.4 reading dual years ago that set a high H2O symbol during a stream mercantile enlargement that began in a center of 2009.
One caveat: Only 7% of respondents mentioned COVID-19, a illness tied to a novel coronavirus in China. If it spreads over China it’s firm to moderate certainty in a months ahead.
U.S. retailers get off to a indolent start in 2020 — wardrobe stores a biggest losers
What they are saying? “Coronavirus? Presidential race? Consumers don’t unequivocally care,” pronounced Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union. Fueled no doubt by clever pursuit enlargement and decent salary growth, consumer view rose this month to nearby a enlargement peak.”
“In short, a clever display in early February,” pronounced Rubeela Farooqi, arch U.S. economist during High Frequency Economics.
Big picture: Rising consumer certainty bodes good for fluctuating a record-long mercantile enlargement that turns 11 years aged in June. Americans are feeling assured due to larger pursuit confidence and rising wages.
What stays to be seen if is COVID-19 or an increasingly quarrelsome 2020 choosing saps a certainty of consumers or creates them some-more uncertain.
Market reaction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, -0.02%
and SP 500
SPX, +0.09%
fell somewhat in Friday trades. Both indexes have set uninformed record highs in a past week, though stability worries about a widespread of COVID-19 seem to be tying serve gains.
Read: Fed’s Powell says a coronavirus poses a risk to a U.S. economy
The 10-year Treasury produce
TMUBMUSD10Y, -2.68%
slipped to 1.58%.
Jeffry Bartash is a contributor for MarketWatch in Washington.
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