Following last month's exuberant catch-up to the Conference Board confidence, UMich confidence surged to cycle highs (helped by Ebola panic and the worst stock maket turmoil in years). At 86.4, handily beating the 84.0 expectations - this is the highest confidence since July 2007. This is the biggest beat of expectations since April 2013 as current conditions were flat but the outlook for the future (hope) surged to 78.4 - highest in 2 years.
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However, as Goldman notes, commentary from the University of Michigan indicated that recent developments including weakness in the stock market, global growth concerns, and worries about escalating military conflicts and Ebola appear to have had a limited effect on sentiment to date. However, they stated that "it would be surprising if recent declines in household wealth did not reverse some of the recent gains in optimism in the months ahead."
Charts: Bloomberg
