Higher-income consumers are feeling better about the economy, and their optimism is helping lift the Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index.
The index, which tracks consumers' expectations of business and labor market conditions, increased slightly to 104.2 in March, up from 103.4 the month before.
"Driven by an uptick in expectations, consumer confidence improved somewhat in March, but remains below the average level seen in 2022 (104.5)," said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at The Conference Board, in a press release. "The gain reflects an improved outlook for consumers under 55 years of age and for households earning $50,000 and over."
He added that while consumers are more optimistic about the near future, they are less sure about the current economy.
"The share of consumers saying jobs are 'plentiful' fell, while the share of those saying jobs are 'not so plentiful' rose," Ozyildirim said.
The index showed that consumers expect to spend less on discretionary purchases, such as entertainment and dining out, and more on less discretionary purchases, such as health care and home repairs.
There's a winning lottery ticket in Florida worth $44 million that's gone unclaimed and is set to expire next week.
Getting crafty for the holidays to entertain guests can be pretty expensive. Cheddar News explains how you can do all of that on a budget.
New regulations from the U.S. government may cause the price of electric vehicles to go up.
New data shows job openings fell in October even though hiring remains healthy.
The holiday season is here and it could be a stressful time as people plan shopping, cooking and traveling. Sally Holmes, editor-in-chief of InStyle Magazine, joined Cheddar News to discuss a new social media trend #Treatculture that helps people take a moment to treat themselves and how that is a psychological benefit to relieve stress.
English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT (yes, the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today).
Wikipedia has released its list of most viewed articles for 2023 with the site seeing over 84 billion visits. The most searched topic was ChatGPT with nearly 50 billion page views
Closing arguments are happening in a federal trial over whether Jetblue Airways will be allowed to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion.
Johnson and Johnson is reportedly looking to settle multiple lawsuits claiming that its baby powder causes cancer, according to Bloomberg.
Wells Fargo said it could face nearly $1 billion in severance costs in the fourth quarter.
