Business

Consumers eye economy turning around for holidays

Just in time for Black Friday, a monthly consumer-sentiment study shows Americans may be getting up off the mat.

That’s the conclusion observers can draw from the latest monthly Discover Spending Monitor, which measures how Americans view the economy and their personal finances.

According to the Spending Monitor, a four-month decline in consumer confidence stopped in September and dramatically reversed in October.

The Monitor’s basic confidence number increased 6.8 points from September to October, to 98.1. That was “the largest one-month increase in the history of the Monitor,” Discover officials said. The Monitor has been tracking consumer-spending patterns for five years.

“This is a significant improvement,” said Matt Towson, a spokesman for the monthly poll.

There is still much pessimism about the economy, despite the better numbers. About half the respondents continued to view the economy as poor in October.