Consumer Confidence Index Climbs

The U.S. economy showed signs of resilience Tuesday, as a widely watched barometer of consumer confidence rose in April to its highest level in almost four years while sales of previously owned homes edged up slightly in March after rising in February too.

The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index rose to 109.6, up from a revised 107.5 in March. April’s reading was the highest since the index touched 110.3 in May 2002. Analysts had expected a reading of 106.4.

Confidence has been on an upswing since November in the aftermath of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, except for a sharp dip in February when short-lived pessimism over the labor market soured consumer sentiment.

“Improving present-day conditions continue to boost consumers’ spirits,” Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement. “Recent improvements in the labor market have been a major driver behind the rise in confidence in early 2006. Looking ahead, consumers are not as pessimistic as they were last month.”

Franco added, however, that although gasoline prices “have yet to impact confidence, further increases could dampen consumers’ mood.”

The Conference Board derived its index from responses received through April 18, which was before gasoline prices surged to new highs.

The component of the consumer confidence index that measures how consumers feel now about economic conditions rose to 136.2 from 133.3. Another component, which measures consumers’ outlook over the next six months, improved to 91.9 from 90.3 last month.

The Conference Board said that consumers’ overall assessment of current conditions remained favorable. Those claiming conditions are “good” rose to 29.7% from 27.9%. Those claiming conditions are “bad” rose to 15.1% from 14.7%.

Consumers’ views about current labor market conditions improved. Those saying jobs are “plentiful” increased to 29.1% in April from 28.3% last month, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” edged down to 19.6% from 20.4%.

Meanwhile, the housing market boom that helped fuel consumer confidence for the last few years was limping along.

The National Assn. of Realtors reported Tuesday that sales of existing homes edged up a meager 0.3% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.92 million units.

The March increase followed a bigger 5.1% jump in February. The two months marked the first advances after five consecutive monthly declines.