It doesn't get any better than this. For the fifth month in a row, UMich consumer confidence has beaten expectations and its final print at 84.5 for May is the highest in six years. This 'confidence' survey fits with the conference board's exuberance also. We can only assume that it is the one-year high mortgage rates and considerably lower-than-expected income and spending that is driving it? As a gentle reminder, the US consumer was this cock-a-hoop just before the market last topped in Q3 2007 - so we are not sure if it is 'useful' for anyone but a self-aggrandizing anchoring-biased asset-gatherer. Current economic conditions (at Oct 2007 highs) are surging (as are expectations) by their most since Sep 2009. Of course, in perfect 'correlation' with this 'confidence', these consumers decided that May was the first time in a year to cut spending...
[3]
Which makes perfect sense, given that in the last month consumers experienced the largest spending contraction since May 2012.
[4]
Charts: Bloomberg, ZH