Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Customers shop at a Macy’s Inc. store in New York.

That’s the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index for the week ended May 12.

The index, which is based on Americans’ opinions about the economy, the buying climate and their own finances, fell from minus 29.5 in the prior week. It can range from plus 100 to minus 100.

In a separate monthly gauge of economic expectations, 32 percent said the economy is getting worse and 31 percent said it’s getting better. The minus 1 reading was the best in five months and rose from minus 4 in April.

“Rising home values and stock prices gains may be underpinning expectations and bolstering consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy,” Bloomberg’s Jeanne Smialek reported yesterday. “Nonetheless, the lagged effect of higher payroll taxes are crimping the discretionary budgets of low- to middle-wage earners, preventing total demand from accelerating.”

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: -30.2 by Political Capital.

Photograph by Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg

The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.

DJ Steve Aoki sprayed champagne on attendees before selecting some to surf the crowd on an inflatable raft during opening week of the Hakkasan night club in Las Vegas last month.

The five-story, $100 million-plus addition to the MGM Grand symbolizes a revival of the unbridled partying Sin City was known for before the real-estate bust turned Las Vegas into the foreclosure capital of the U.S. It also created 500 jobs in a state that had an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent in March, the highest in the nation.

“The domestic customer is coming back, they’re spending a bit more money,” MGM Resorts International Chairman and Chief Executive Officer James Murren said in a telephone interview. “When you see a strong housing number, that bodes very well. People feel they’re wealthy.”

Years of dipping in backyard pools and exploring neighborhood festivals during so-called summer staycations are over. New attractions, such as Walt Disney Co.’s Cars Land at its California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California, or Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, a beach-front casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, may again draw crowds as Americans feel more secure in their jobs and home prices rebound.

Home prices climbing at the fastest pace since 2006 are helping repair household finances, while unemployment at a four-year low of 7.5 percent boosts confidence. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index reached a five-year high in the week ended April 28.

With travel expenditures projected to increase 3.6 percent this year, faster than economic growth, the share of gross domestic product coming from the industry may approach 3 percent in 2013, up from about 2.7 percent in 2010, David M. Huether, vice president for research at the U.S. Travel Association, said in an interview. The world’s largest economy is forecast to expand 2 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Orlando, Florida, New York and Los Angeles are among this year’s top visitor destinations, Simon Bramley, Travelocity.com Inc. vice president for transportation and lodging, said in a telephone interview.

“We saw people traveling further from home,” said Travelocity’s Bramley. “The austerity years of the staycation are behind us at this point.”

See the full report on Staycations fading, at Bloomberg.com.

Christopher Palmeri contributed reporting. 

Original post is Staycations Yield to Vegas, Margaritaville: Sure Rebound Signs by Political Capital.

Photograph by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Pedestrians carry shopping bags on Market Street in San Francisco.

Looking at consumer confidence, political independents are in a Christmas holiday mood — if we look back to 2007.

Sentiment among those without a party affiliation climbed last week to the highest level since the week ended December 23, 2007, according to details of the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index issued today. That means they just now made up all the ground lost during the recession that began that month and ended in June 2009.

For all Americans, the index last week reached its highest level since January 2008.

Record stock prices and rising home values may be boosting sentiment, which has especially improved among high-income earners and homeowners. Given independent voters’ demographics, the move up could be grounded in income and equity gains.

A comparatively high proportion of independents say they are employed, based on an August 2012 Pew Research study, with 37 percent reporting having jobs compared to 33 percent of Democrats and 27 percent of Republicans. Confidence among the full-time employed has improved, climbing last week to its highest reading this year, according to the Bloomberg index.

Additionally, 34 percent of independents in the Pew study reported making more than $75,000 annually, compared to 32 percent of Democrats and 31 percent of Republicans.

Confidence of upper-income households with investments may be benefiting from the stock-market rebound, after the S&P 500 Index closed at a record 1,597.57 April 30.

The gap in comfort between Republicans and Democrats in today’s report shrank as members of both parties became less pessimistic. Republicans added 3.1 points for the group’s best reading in more than a year, and Democrats’ confidence gained 0.6 points. The differential fell to 7.5 points, the smallest since February.

Republicans had been much more pessimistic than Democrats heading into and just after the November election as President Barack Obama’s odds of being re-elected improved.

“As the economy gains, political allegiance may be losing some of its influence on consumer sentiment,” Langer Research Associates, which collects the data, wrote in its analysis of this week’s numbers.

Original post is Political Independents Finally Lose Recession Blues by Political Capital.

Photograph by Peter Foley/Bloomberg

Job seekers fill out applications during the NYC Restaurant Job Expo at the Gabarron Foundation in New York, on April 9, 2013.

That’s how many first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits were filed in the week ended April 20.

The number represents a six-week low and a decrease of 16,000 from the 355,000 applications for jobless assistance filed the previous week.

“Fewer dismissals show companies have enough confidence in demand and are in a position to add to headcount should sales strengthen after a pause in March,” Bloomberg’s Alex Kowalski reported. “Americans last week grew more confident that their financial situations were improving, indicating rising home values and higher stock prices will help sustain spending and keep the economy expanding.”

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was minus 29.9 in the week ended April 21, down slightly from minus 29.2 the previous week and marking the first time since January 2008 that the index was above minus 30 in consecutive weeks. The index asks Americans to rate the economy, their personal finances and the buying climate.

“Households were the most optimistic about their finances in 10 months,” Bloomberg’s Shobhana Chandra reported.

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: 339,000 by Political Capital.

Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Customers try out mattresses in the showroom of an Ikea store in the Brooklyn borough of New York.

That’s the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index in the week ended April 14, the highest since January 2008.

The index, which asks U.S. consumers for their views on the economy, buying climate and personal finances, rose 4.8 points from minus 34 in the previous week.

Rising consumer sentiment was “led by upper-middle income earners, deepening a rally already underway among higher-income adults,” Langer Research Associates, which produces the index for Bloomberg News, said in a written analysis.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index can range from 100 to minus 100. Consumers view their personal finances more favorably than the national economy and the buying climate.

Bloomberg’s Alex Kowalski has more here about the index.

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: -29.2 by Political Capital.

If the economy is cooling, consumers aren’t noticing.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index climbed to minus 29.2 in the week ended April 14, the highest since January 2008, from minus 34 in the prior period. The jump was the biggest in more than a year, with nearly every category across age, region and income advancing.

Americans were most upbeat about their personal finances, with that measure climbing to its highest level since July. Respondents’ views on the state of the economy are at a more than five-year high, and an index of whether they consider it a good time to make purchases reached its highest in four months.

`The question is whether consumer sentiment can maintain enough momentum to keep pushing on up,” Gary Langer, president of Langer Research Associates in New York, which compiles the index for Bloomberg, said in a statement. “Recent trends – a down January, an up February, a mostly flat March, now this surge – suggest a bumpy ride, but at least one that’s headed in the right direction.”

The comfort index can range from 100, indicating every participant in the survey had a positive response to all three components, to minus 100, signaling all views were negative.

Original post is Consumers Most Confident in Five Years by Political Capital.

Photograph by Richard Drew/AP Photo

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 11, 2013.

Confidence among American households earning more than $100,000 climbed last week to the highest level in more than two years just as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index set a new record, the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index showed today.

The gauge for the top earners rose to 12.6, its highest since October 2010. The seven-point jump from the previous week was the biggest since the end of September.

The S&P 500 set a closing record of 1,570.25 on April 2. It eclipsed that mark yesterday, putting the all-time high at 1,587.73.

Will the gains continue to lift sentiment in coming weeks or will President Barack Obama’s latest budget proposal trigger a setback? The administration’s 2014 budget proposals yesterday included boosting taxes on top earners, estates and private-equity managers.

The more well-off are probably also responding to the pickup in wealth propelled by a housing rebound. Home prices rose 10.2 percent in the 12 months through February, the biggest increase in almost seven years, according to CoreLogic Inc.

Rising stocks and property values aren’t floating all boats. The gains among the highest paid contrast with declines at the other end of the income spectrum. Households earning less than $15,000 were the most pessimistic last week in three months. Their gauge dropped 10.8 points to minus 60.3, the lowest reading since Jan. 13. Confidence among the unemployed fell to its lowest level in five months.

There was also a regional bias to underlying changes in sentiment. Southerners were the most upbeat since late October, while those living in the West were the most pessimistic since September.

The crosscurrents left the overall confidence measure little changed last week at minus 34 compared to minus 34.1 in the previous seven days. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index has held within a 0.5-point range for the past month.

Original post is Record Stock Prices Make Top Earners Feel More Comfortable by Political Capital.

Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

People are reflected in the side of a Cigarette boat as they look at boats on display at The Miami International Boat Show.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index was at minus 34.1 in the week ended March 31, up less than a half point from the prior week as measures of the state of the economy and buying climate improved.

What’s been the gauge’s average since November? Minus 34.

The remarkable stability comes as disappointing employment data ratchets up concern that the world’s largest economy is about to slip, mimicking the timing of similar swoons over the past three years.

Labor Department data today showed the number of claims for jobless benefits jumped by 28,000 to 385,000 in the week ended March 30, the highest since Nov. 24, when people in the Northeast were thrown out of work in the aftermath of super-storm Sandy. It was the third consecutive increase, boosting claims by a combined 51,000 from a five-year low of 334,000 in the week ended March 9.

Last week’s surge will probably be reversed quickly, because the government has difficulty in adjusting the data for moving holidays such as Easter. A Labor Department official said as much as the data was released to the press today. What is added one week, will be subtracted in subsequent weeks.

A Labor Department report tomorrow may show employers added 190,000 workers to payrolls in March following a 236,000 gain the month before, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The jobless rate is projected to hold at 7.7 percent, matching February’s four-year low.

Such an outcome would mean payroll gains have been as stable as Bloomberg’s comfort gauge. The average employment increase per month since November is 205,000.

Original post is Consumers: No Hint of Job-Market Slump by Political Capital.

Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

A woman shops at a Quiksilver store in Times Square in New York, on March 12, 2013.

That’s how much the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index advanced in the past six weeks.

The index, which asks consumers to rate the national economy, their personal finances and the buying climate, rose to minus 31.6 in the week ended March 10 from minus 32.4 in the previous week. It was minus 37.5 in the week ended Jan. 27.

The index, which ran range from plus 100 to minus 100, is at its highest level since April.

The index’s gain for six straight weeks is “a rally of unusual duration,” Langer Research Associates, which produces the index for Bloomberg News, said in a written analysis. The 5.9-point gain brings the index to “the verge of a breakout from the trouble zone it’s occupied continuously since spring 2008,” according to the analysis.

Bloomberg’s Jeanna Smialek has more here.

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: 5.9 by Political Capital.

Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

People look at boats on display at The Miami International Boat Show on Feb. 15, 2013 in Miami Beach, Florida.

That’s the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index for the seven-day period ended Feb. 24.

The index, based on Americans’ ratings of the national economy, the buying climate and their personal finances, improved to the highest level this year after climbing for the fourth straight week. The index was minus 33.4 in the previous week.

The index has been higher just five times since March 2008, when the economy was in a recession, according to Langer Research Associates, which compiles the index using telephone surveys.

“Rising residential real-estate values, combined with stock prices close to five-year highs, are speeding a rebound in household wealth that will help underpin spending,” Bloomberg’s Jeanna Smialek reported. “Nonetheless, the highest gasoline prices in four months and disagreement among lawmakers on how to close the federal budget deficit may check the recent gains in sentiment.”

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: -32.8 by Political Capital.