The Richmond Fed survey surged to 14, its biggest beat since April 2010 and its highest level since January 2011. All makes perfect sense right? Just a 3.5 sigma beat of analyst expectations at 0. All sub-indices improved to multi-month highs and expectations for six months ahead also surged (even as prices paid and received collapsed).
[4]
Consumer Confidence, amid surging interest rates and near-record gas prices for this time of year (and a pending war), rose (beating expectations) after falling last month. All of the gains in confidence came from 'hope' as the expectations sub-index rose from 86.0 to 88.7 as the present situation fell from 73.7 to 70.7 - the biggest drop since January.
[5]
Remember, beware of the big 'con' [6].