August's Strong Consumer Confidence Levels Mean Good Things For Retail
American consumer's confidence climbed to its highest levels in almost a year, and that boost signals good things for the retail sector and coming holiday sales.
According to the Conference Board's consumer confidence index, levels jumped to 101.1 in August from July's 96.7—a major gain and the index's highest reading since September 2015.
JLL CEO of Retail, Americas Gregory Maloney tells Bisnow that commercial real estate experts, particularly those who focus on retail, monitor consumer confidence levels closely, as it helps determine how retail sales may respond in the future.
"Three indicators we watch very closely are unemployment, household construction starts and the consumer index. When we combine them all we can show where retail sales are going," Gregory (pictured below) says.
Job gains were somewhat slowed in August, down from the 255,000 jobs added in July. Last month the US added 151,000 new jobs to the payroll, though unemployment held at 4.9% for a third straight month.
"[At present] all indications show if we continue on this path we will have a very good holiday season. Unemployment is down, consumer index is up and hotel occupancy rates are high. That's showing us it's going to be a very good holiday season."
