Americans are very confident in December: the CB measure shows a surge to 113.7 points. In addition, November’s number was upgraded from 107.1 to 109.4 points.
This is the best figure since 2007, extending the positive trend. It implies higher consumption in December. But for now, markets remain in holiday mood, not responding to the event.
The Richmond Manufacturing Index also beat early estimations with a score of 8 points.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence measure was expected to rise to 108.9 points in December after 107.1 in November. Separately, the Richmond Manufacturing Index was expected to rise from 4 to 5 points.
Trading was moving in a slow manner in the holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Te lack of liquidity and trading volume has not resulted in any wild jumps. There is no significant news to move markets.
Earlier, the S&P Case-Shiller Composite 20 House Price Index showed an annual rise of 5.1%, marginally above 5% expected.
EUR/USD was trading under the 1.0460 level and traded in a range of around 25 pips.