SAN RAFAEL, Calif.—U.S. consumer confidence has improved to a point not seen in the last six years, according to the Money Anxiety Index. The consumer confidence metric dipped to 69.2, below the 50-year average of 70.7, signaling improving financial confidence according to Dan Geller, chief research officer of the index.
The Money Anxiety Index measures consumers' level of financial worry and stress. Historically, the Index fluctuated from a high of 135.3 during the recession of the early 1980s, to a low of 38.7 in the mid 1960s.
Geller pointed out that the preliminary October Money Anxiety Index at 69.2, and the September final at 69.3, are both below the 50-year Index average of 70.7. This is the first time in the past six years that the Index dipped below the 70.7, he said.
Geller added that in the last 50 years the Money Anxiety Index fluctuated from a high of 135.3 during the recession of the early 1980s, to a low of 38.7 in the mid-1960s. On the eve of the Great Recession, the Money Anxiety Index stood at 58.6. Geller attributed the latest decline in the level of money anxiety among consumers to improving employment news. In September, employers added 248,000 non-farm jobs bringing the three-month average to 224,000, he said.