On February 7, Gallup released a poll titled “U.S. Economic Confidence Climbs for Fifth Straight Month.”
A few notable excerpts:
Americans’ confidence in the economy improved for the fifth month in a row in January, with Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index reaching -27, its highest point since May of last year. Americans, however, are not yet as confident as they were a year ago.
also:
Americans’ confidence in the economy has been improving every month since August, when it hit recession levels, plummeting to -52 after the heated battle over the federal debt ceiling in Washington, and Standard and Poor’s subsequent Aug. 5 downgrading of the nation’s credit rating.
also:
Economic confidence among upper-income Americans had sunk below that of middle- and lower-income Americans in August. However, it has since recovered, and again is better than that of their lower-income counterparts — as is typical.
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The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation
SPX at 1349.96 as this post is written