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The economy in the United States is seemingly getting back on par, tit for tat. As the prices of stocks and homes soars to record levels not seen since after the recession and toxic mortgage debt fallout, people are bracing up for a healthy fiscal year. According to recent reports, Americans are actually the most confident that they’ve been about the economy in the past five years, telling of the amount of bolstered consumer confidence levels in early 2013.
In lieu of an increased tax margin, the government sequester and pending healthcare issues, like Obama Care, U.S. citizens are spending happily and confidently. Consumer purchases account for more than 70% of the gross domestic economic growth, and confident consumers spur a healthy economy in this country.
According to the Confidence Board, a private think tank and research group, consumer confidence was an estimated 76.2 percent. That’s up from 69 percent in April. It’s notably the greatest level that this percentage has been since the Great Recession in 2008.
A report on U.S. home prices helped boost consumer confidence this week, showing a massive 11 percent increase in home values nationwide; an increase that’s taken only since last March to accumulate. It’s the highest increase in home prices since 2006. According to Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home price index, prices increased by 11 percent in 20 major cities that are indexed.
Healthy stock prices have also helped contribute to the upward cavalcade of the economy in the United States. So far this year, the Dow Jones has skyrocketed by a whopping 18 percent increase, a record level gain that does not show any signs of leveling off anytime soon, something that many investors attribute to increased home values and overall consumer confidence.
According to the Conference Board, middleclass citizens reaped the most benefit in consumer confidence levels. Families earning $50,000 or more per year saw an overall increase in confidence to 95.1 percent, up from 85.3 percent.
The U.S. economy looked robust, too. More than 208,000 jobs per month were added since November of 2012, outpacing the estimated 138,000 jobs per month that occurred during the six months prior to November, 2012.
All in all, the economy as a whole is in full low recovery mode. From January to March, it grew by 2.5 percent. Compared to growth from October through December, which was .04 percent, it’s increased a cushy 1.9 percent during the early part of this year.
If these trends continue to gain, the economy could be back on the pitcher’s mound starting the world’s all-star money game sometime in the very near future.
