The Consumer Sentiment Index in the US improved to 86.4 (preliminary) in June from 82.9 in May, the University of Michigan's latest Surveys of Consumers showed on Friday. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 84 by a wide margin. Further details of the publication revealed that the Current Economic Conditions Index edged higher to 90.6 from 89.4 and the Consumer Expectations Index rose to 83.8 from 78.8. Finally, the 1-year Inflation Outlook declined to 4% from 4.6%. Commenting on the report, "the early June gain was mainly among middle and upper-income households and for future economic ... (full story)

Following May's disappointing drop in sentiment, analysts were confident that UMich Sentiment is set to rebound in today's preliminary June data and it did, handily beating expectations (86.4 vs 84.4 exp vs 82.9 prior). The jump was driven by a big jump in 'hope' (from 78.8 to 83.8) while current conditions rose less than expected... {chart}Perhaps the most watched aspect of the survey is inflation expectations, which notably moderated...{chart}Which quite frankly makes absolutely no sense given that spontaneous references to market prices for homes, vehicles, and household durables fell to their worst level since ... (full story)