After four consecutive down months, consumers regained some confidence in the economy last month.
That’s the finding of the Discover US Spending Monitor. Its basic US Spending Index number rose almost 2.7 points, to 91.3, in September, Discover officials said.
The monthly spending index measures how people see the economy and their personal circumstances.
Caution in interpreting this new optimism is required, however.
“Right now, we have no idea if this is a one-month blip or not,” explains Matt Towson, a spokesman for the Discover Monitor. “You look at September, and there was very little significant news to make you think that the economy was turning around.”
Still, this is the first time since spring the numbers have shown improvement.
For example, respondents who expect the economy to improve rose to 30 percent, from 26 percent, in August.
Despite 56 percent of those surveyed continuing to say that the economy is poor, “this is 10 points lower than the 66 percent of consumers who rated the economy as poor in September 2011,” the Discover Monitor found.
And the percentage of those saying their personal finances are improving went to 23 percent, from 20 percent, in the previous month, survey officials said.
Nevertheless, Discover officials said the pessimistic numbers are still high on a long-term basis and that one month’s better numbers don’t turn things around for most consumers.
Towson said the last time a majority of those surveyed didn’t rate the economy as poor was March 2008.
The Discover US Spending Monitor samples some 8,200 people over 30 days. The survey, which began in May 2007, conducts some 275 interviews per night.