Index of Consumer Confidence Inches Higher in January

Consumer confidence continued to rise in January, and the fear of an imminent recession because of the October stock market crash has been alleviated, a University of Michigan survey said Sunday.

The survey, conducted by the university’s Institute for Social Research, also found that consumers remained concerned about the long-term vitality of the economy.

The ISR Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to 90.8% in January from 86.8% in December and 83.1% in November. In January, 1987, the index was 90.4%.

For the long term, nearly 47% of those families polled expected good times financially in 1988, while 37% expected the economy to be bad, the survey said.