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Yesterday, Discover Financial Services reported that small-business confidence in the economy is growing (CardLine, 4/27). Consumer confidence also is up, the Conference Board, a research organization, announced today. The April Consumer Confidence Index stands at 39.2, up from 26.9 in March, when the index also rose slightly from the previous month (CardLine, 3/31). The baseline for the index is 100. Research company TNS conducts the monthly consumer-confidence survey of 5,000 randomly selected households. The cutoff date for this month's survey was April 21. "Consumer confidence rose in April to its highest reading in 2009, driven primarily by a significant improvement in the short-term outlook," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in this month's report. The percentage of respondents who believe business conditions will worsen during the next six months declined, to 25.3% this month from 37.8% in March, while those expecting conditions to improve increased, to 15.6% from 9.6%. The percentage of consumers who said business conditions are "bad" declined to 45.7% from 51%, while those claiming business conditions are "good" increased to 7.6% from 6.9%. The percentage of consumers stating jobs are "hard to get" decreased, to 47.9% from 48.8% in March. However, respondents who said jobs are "plentiful" edged down, to 4.5% from 4.7%, according to the report. The percentage of consumers anticipating fewer jobs in the months ahead decreased, to 33.6% from 41.6%, while those expecting more jobs increased, to 13.9% from 7.3%. The proportion of consumers anticipating an increase in their incomes edged up, to 8% from 7.8%.
