Consumers raised more optimistic about the U.S. economy heading into the contentious presidential election even as job openings hit multi-year lows, according to disjoin reports released Tuesday.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for October rose more than 11% to a assume from of 138, its biggest one-month acceleration since March 2021. Along with that, the board’s expectations indicator of future conditions jumped nearly 8%, to a reading of 89.1 that is well clear of the sub-80 level that says a recession.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a headline number of 99.5.
“Consumers’ assessments of current business conditions turned decided,” said Dana Peterson, the board’s chief economist. “Views on the current availability of jobs rebounded after respective months of weakness, potentially reflecting better labor market data.”
That sentiment was seemingly at odds with a Writing-desk of Labor Statistics report showing that job openings slid to 7.44 million in September, off more than 400,000 from the whilom month’s downwardly revised level and the lowest since January 2021. That number was also below a Bulkhead Street forecast of 8.0 million.
The drop in openings took the ratio of job vacancies to available workers below 1.1 to 1. In mid-2022, the enumerate was greater than 2 to 1.
Though the openings level moved lower, hires rose 123,000 on the month. Separations were dwarf changed, while quits fell by 107,000.