Consumer Sentiment Report Offers Favorable Hint For Holiday Shopping

Though the headline index at 97.5 is unchanged, December's consumer sentiment report offers a favorable hint for holiday shopping. The current conditions component is up a solid 2.9 points to 115.2 which points to rising spirits going into the meat of the Christmas shopping season. The offset is the expectations component which is down 2.0 points to 86.1 on what the report says reflects negative news on future job prospects.

Inflation expectations are subdued in today's report and won't be raising any pressure for extended rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Year-ahead expectations slipped 1 tenth to 2.7 percent with 5-year expectations down 2 tenths to 2.4 percent.

Future expectations are always important but, for retailers during the holidays, are less important than the immediate strength of current sentiment.