Confidence Among U.S. Consumers Is Unchanged This Month in Reuters/University of Michigan Index

[Purveyor]

By Courtney Schlisserman

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers was higher than anticipated in March as companies slowed the pace of job cuts and stocks advanced.

The Reuters/University of Michigan final consumer sentiment index for this month held at 73.6. The preliminary reading for the measure, released March 12, was 72.5. Economists forecast the final gauge would fall to 73, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.

Gains in confidence and fewer job losses may help sustain consumer spending and fuel the economy in coming months. A pickup in Americans’ purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, hinges on employment growth that has yet to materialize.

“The economy just continues to gain traction,” said Maxwell Clarke, chief U.S. economist at IDEAglobal in New York. “We’re slowly trudging ahead. You are going to see further gains in spending in the first half but you are more likely to see broader improvement as the job situation improves.”

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