US consumer confidence rebounds in December

US consumer confidence rebounded in December following a decrease in November due to more favorable economic and labor market conditions, a report showed Tuesday. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 78.1 up from 72.0 in November. The Present Situation Index increased to 76.2 from 73.5, whereas the Expectations Index increased to 79.4 from 71.1 last month. Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board Lynn Franco said in this regard that consumer confidence rebounded in December and is now close to pre-government shutdown levels. Franco added that "sentiment regarding current conditions increased ... with consumers attributing the improvement to more favorable economic and labor market conditions. "Looking ahead, consumers expressed a greater degree of confidence in future economic and job prospects, but were moderately more pessimistic about their earning prospects. Despite the many challenges throughout 2013, consumers are in better spirits today than when the year began," Franco stressed. The report indicated that consumers' appraisal of overall current conditions improved. Those claiming business conditions are "good" edged down to 19.6 percent from 20.4 percent, however, those claiming business conditions are "bad" decreased to 22.6 percent from 24.6 percent. Consumers' appraisal of the job market was also more upbeat. Those saying jobs are "plentiful" ticked up to 12.2 percent from 12.0 percent, while those saying jobs are "hard to get" decreased to 32.5 percent from 34.1 percent. Consumers' outlook for the labor market was considerably more optimistic. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead increased sharply to 17.1 percent from 13.1 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs decreased to 19. 0 percent from 21.4 percent.