Consumer’s optimism about the economy jumped significantly

this month and an ag economist says that’s good news for the domestic demand

picture. 

University of Missouri’s Scott Brown said the preliminary

results for June’s Consumer Sentiment index, shows a 9 percent improvement over

last month.  The index measures how

optimistic consumers feel about their finances and the state of the economy.  “The economic conditions side of that index

is up 6.7 percent and the index of consumer expectation is up 10.9 percent,” he

says.  “All those numbers are movements

in the right direction after what was such a drastic decline in consumer

sentiment previously.”

He tells Brownfield he expects to see sentiment continue to

improve.  “I think folks are ready to be

out,” he says.  “I expect more positive

to come there as long as we continue to reopen without seeing too many more

cases of COVID-19 that might cause us to go back into more of a shutdown mode.”

And while consumer sentiment is on the rise, the overall

index is still 20 percent below last year’s levels.

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