Latest from Mag

Plenty of executive appointments over the past two weeks. Here’s Electrical Marketing’s expanded coverage of personnel changes in the electrical market.
Dec. 21, 2012
Wire man John Pasqual and lighting rep Jack Melnick
Dec. 21, 2012
Image
Electrical product prices remained on their flat trend, showing no change from October and little change in almost all major product categories.
Dec. 21, 2012
Image
Privately-owned housing starts in November were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 861,000, 3% below the revised October estimate, but 21.6% above the Nov. 2011 rate.
Dec. 21, 2012
Dec. 21, 2012
Veteran reps form new agency in Raleigh; WinWholesale buys Lloyd Graves in Texas; United Electric Supply expands through acquisition; and more.
Dec. 21, 2012
W.W. Grainger Inc., Lake Forest, Ill., announced plans to purchase Techni-Tool Inc., Worcester, Pa., a 200-plus employee distributor supplying customers in the cable television...
Dec. 21, 2012
Kaman Industrial Technologies (KIT), the industrial distribution business Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn., has built up in recent acquisitions of Minarik, Zeller Electric and others...
Dec. 21, 2012
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered an update on the city’s plans to renovate its infrastructure to withstand future storms.
Dec. 7, 2012

Consumer Confidence Index Rebounds In August

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in July, rebounded in August.
Sept. 9, 2005
2 min read

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which had increased in July, rebounded in August. The Index now stands at 105.6 (1985=100), up from 103.6 in July. The Present Situation Index increased to 123.65 from 119.3. The Expectations Index edged up to 93.7 from 93.2 last month.

“Consumers appear to be weathering the steady rise in gas prices quite well,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board’s Consumer Research Center. “In fact, consumers’ confidence in the current state of the economy, and particularly in the labor market, has propelled the Present Situation Index to its highest level in nearly four years (125.4 in September 2001). Expectations continue to suggest more of the same for the remainder of the year.”

Consumers’ overall assessment of ongoing conditions was considerably more favorable in August. Those claiming business conditions are “good’ increased to 29.8 percent from 28.7 percent. Those claiming conditions are “bad” slipped to 15.1 percent from 16.7 percent.

The employment picture was also upbeat. Consumers saying jobs are “hard to get” decreased to 23.2 percent from 23.8 percent, while those claiming jobs are “plentiful” rose to 23.5 percent from 22.9 percent.

For the first time since October 2001, consumers claiming jobs are plentiful outnumber those claiming jobs are hard to get.

The outlook for the labor market remained mixed. Those expecting more jobs to become available in the coming months increased to 16.6 percent from 15.6 percent.