Personal Finance News

News archive

News

09/09/2009 11:31:01

Consumer confidence on the up

Britons feel more optimistic about money management, new research shows.

In its latest Consumer Confidence Index, Nationwide reveals that the nation's feelings towards their own financial situation and that of the overall economy rose over the course of August to note a score of 63.

Such an increase is the continuation of the monthly increases that have been seen since March, with the index now 19 points higher than the 44 seen in January.

In addition, rises across all three of the study's indices were noted, with the present situation index increasing for the first time since April.

A three-point rise was also seen in the expectations index, as 34 per cent of Britons believe the overall economy will have improved in the next six months.

Martin Gahbauer, chief economist for Nationwide, states: "The rise in positive sentiment across all the indices is no surprise as a number of key economic indicators continue to show that we may have reached the bottom of the current recessionary cycle."

Speaking last month, Rachael Joy, of GfK NOP's consumer confidence team, claimed that although many UK consumers remain cautious about the state of the economy, they feel more positive than 12 months ago.