Consumer Optimism

How is the U.S. consumer reacting to the recovery? This week the University of Michigan's Consumer Attitude Survey reported consumer optimism up sharply, though not so much as after the 1953-54 recession. More secure in their personal income, consumers are now planning stepped-up purchases, particularly in housing and household goods. Department-store sales, already equal to 1957, reflected this. While rising prices on new cars brought some sales resistance, consumers were swinging to the buy side on both new and used cars.

Auto sales gave a concrete demonstration of the changing consumer attitude. Sales for the middle ten days of November took their steepest climb of the year to an average of 16,200 a day, about equal to November 1957. Since dealers so far have been handicapped by shortages, automen regard this as the first real test of the auto market, the biggest question mark in the 1959 economy. The Chase Manhattan Bank predicted sales of 5,500,000 to 6,500,000 cars. "Six million or more," it said, "would support a vigorous expansion of the entire economy."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.