Reuters and the University of Michigan conduct a monthly consumer confidence survey, to gauge the attitude and expectations of U.S. consumers - measuring what people think will happen in the coming months.
The latest survey results shows the consumer confidence index rising to 69 in June (up from 68.7 in May), its highest since September of '08 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. The slighlty improvement in attitude is great news, but came dampened by job and income uncertainty which still has consumers on hold for certain planned purchases. This economic recovery is thought to be slower than originally anticipated, so consumers are expecting a longer period of time before things really start to improve.
There were also concerns about inflation, with one-year expectations rising to 3.1% in June, the highest since October 2008.