A shopper makes a purchase at the JC Penney department store in North Riverside, Illinois, the US. Picture: REUTERS
Economists said the strong readings likely did not fully capture the impact of the trade standoff between Washington and Beijing. The cut off date for the Conference Board survey was on May 16. The US raised existing tariffs on $200bn in Chinese goods to 25% from 10% on May 10, prompting Beijing to retaliate with its own levies on American imports.
The survey’s expectations index, based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labour market conditions, increased to a reading of 106.6 in May from 102.7 in April. While the sentiment surveys have been upbeat, the so-called hard economic data have weakened in recent months. Industrial production, durable goods orders, retail and home sales fell in April, suggesting the economy lost considerable momentum early in the second quarter after getting a lift from exports and an accumulation of unsold goods in warehouses in the first quarter.
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