Despite numerous setbacks and the rising cases of Covid-19 due to the Delta Variant, all is not doom and gloom as Americans are confident with the US economy and it shows as consumer confidence rose to 129.1 this month as opposed to last month’s 128.9, the Conference Board said on Tuesday.

That’s the highest they’ve reached ever since February 2020, and things are looking better even with the upcoming mask and vaccine mandate.

Wall Street on the other hand is expecting a decline where two other major surveys of consumer attitudes fell short in July with their forecast reading stood at 125.

One of the main reason is thanks to the rising vaccination awareness plus massive government financial stimulus that urged the speed of the full reopening of the economy. Even business are shocked at the pent up demand and spending by customers.

They’re not out of the woods yet, as the impact of the mask and vaccine mandate might prove to be too much to keep the momentum going and a pair of other consumer surveys showed a deterioration in confidence in July.

It’s a bit worrying. They are saying: “These data also show no sign that people are much concerned by the upsurge in Covid cases, though that could easily change if the severe outbreaks in several southern states become more widespread,” said chief economist Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

Consumer Confidence in Malaysia on the other hand increased to 98.90 points in the first quarter of 2021 from 85.20 points in the fourth quarter of 2020. The past few days have seen the number of new cases skyrocket with new states adding big numbers to the statistics. With many still not taking the pandemic seriously despite the lockdown ended just a few weeks ago.

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Source : MarketWatch