The Consumer Confidence Index is now at a four-and-a-half-year high after making moderate gains in November.
The index climbed to 73.7 from October’s reading of 73.1. Conversely, the Advisor Confidence Index fell almost 12% over the past month.
There are four components of the Advisor Confidence Index and all four fell. Current economic outlook tumbled 6.82%; the outlook for the next six months fell 13.71%; over the next 12 months, 9.3%; and the outlook for the stock market fell 16.63%.
Most of the decline in advisor confidence is said to stem from uncertainty about the tax environment after the first of the year.
US companies are paying out more dividends in anticipation of higher dividend tax rates next year. And a major indicator of business investment, core capital goods orders, rose 1.7%.
Analysts had predicted a decline of .5%.
The increased dividends makes it look like companies are doing well and the increase in capital spending would seem to support that.
At the same time, CEOs are actively expressing their opinions to the White House on how to avoid the fiscal cliff and fix the deficit.
The segment of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months rose to 22.2% from 21.5% in October.
Those expecting more jobs to be created over the next few months jumped to 20.3% from 19.7%.
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