The rebound in the University of Michigan consumer confidence index in April which, aside from this Jan's reading, left it at its highest level since 2007, suggests that consumption growth will rebound in the second quarter.
The headline index rebounded to 95.9 this month, from 93.0, with that improvement driven by gains in both the expectations (to 88.0 from 85.3) and the current conditions (to 108.2 from 105.0) indices.
"Based on the historical relationship between expectations and the current conditions, the expectations index is at a level that is consistent with real consumption growth of more than 4% annualised." said Capital Economics in its report on Friday.
