Consumer confidence rises on economic optimism

New York -- A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that U.S. consumer confidence for the week ended May 19 advanced, indicating that Americans’ outlook on the economy is optimistic.



The weekly Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index increased to minus 29.4 from minus 30.2 the prior week. A measure of personal finances was positive for a sixth consecutive week, the longest stretch in more than five years, according to Bloomberg.



“Price appreciation in domestic equity markets and housing has likely bolstered confidence of Americans in the sustainability of the current expansion,” said Joseph Brusuelas, a senior economist at Bloomberg LP in New York. “The late arrival of the recovery in housing should serve to elongate that expansion.”



The comfort gauge has been hovering close to a five-year high of minus 28.9 reached at the end of April. It foreshadowed a similar gain in the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment, which reached an almost six-year high this month.