At 97.2, July's preliminary index (through July 20) is up 2.0 points from June's 95.2 final tally and 4.2 points higher than the June level initially reported by the Board.

"All three components of the Expectation Index improved, with consumers feeling less pessimistic about future business conditions and employment, and more optimistic about future income," Conference Board Senior Economist Stephanie Guichard said in a press release announcing the results. "Meanwhile, consumers' assessment of the present situation was little changed," Guichard reported.

At 74.4, the Expectations Index component increased 4.5 points from June, with consumers expressing greater optimism for the next six months:

Business conditions will improve: 18.4% of consumers, up from 17.1%.
More jobs will be available: 17.5%, up from 15.9%.
Personal incomes will increase: 18.2%, up from 17.6%.

Looking ahead 12 months:

Fewer expect inflation: 5.8%, down from both 5.9% in June and a peak of 7.0% in April.
Fewer expect interest rates to rise (53.0%, down from 57.1%) and more expect rates to fall (21.2%, up from 18.4% in June).
More expect stock prices to rise from April's 16-month low (47.9%, up from 37.6% three months earlier).

"July's modest gain in confidence was driven by consumers over 35 years old and shared across all income groups except those earning the least (with household annual income below $15K)," the Conference Board noted.

While the issue of tariffs ranked high on the list of topics consumers were focused on in July, the reconciliation legislation (Republicans' "Big, Beautiful Bill") recently signed into law did not. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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