Consumer Confidence Up Again

While business leaders and pundits are convinced that the economy is going to fall off the fiscal cliff imminently, someone forgot to tell consumers. The Consumer Confidence Index, which measures both consumers’ current state and future prospects, came in at 73.7 out of 100 for November, up from 73.1 in October. It’s the highest level for the index since 2008—which in August 2011 dropped as low as 44.1. The rise came from a slight jump in people’s positive expectations for the future, indicating that fears of coming to Jan. 1 without resolving the fiscal cliff do not seem to have trickled down to consumer behavior or their future plans.