(MENAFN- AFP) US consumer confidence rebounded in February to return to a 15-year high, the Conference Board announced Tuesday.
After retreating in January, the Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 114.8, up from 111.6. The reading is now higher than at any time since July 2001.
Analysts had instead expected the monthly survey report to show a drop of a tenth of a point. The expectations index also rose from 99.3 to 102.4.
Lynn Franco, the Conference Board's director of economic indicators, said that in general consumers foresaw a growing economy in the coming months.
"Consumers rated current business and labor market conditions more favorably this month than in January," Franco said in a statement.
"Expectations improved regarding the short-term outlook for business, and to a lesser degree jobs and income prospects."
Consumers were more optimistic in February about the short-term outlook, according to the Conference Board -- with a more than 1 percentage point gain in the share of those expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months.
The share of those saying business current conditions were either "good" or "bad" fell marginally. Those saying jobs were "plentiful" fell from 27.1 percent to 26.2 percent but those saying jobs were "hard to get" also fell slightly from 21.1 percent to 20.3 percent.
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