University of Michigan consumer sentiment nudges up in December

The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 91.8 in December from 91.3 in November.

This marked a four month high but the reading fell a little short of analysts’ expectations for a print of 92.

The growth in confidence was attributed to households at the bottom two-thirds of the income ladder and took the yearly average to 92.9, which was the highest level since 2004.

"We feared a weaker reading, following the decline in the Bloomberg consumer comfort index, so we are quite relieved by
this report," said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"For the Fed, the aggregate is what counts, and we see nothing here to change our view that both total spending and employment will continue to rise at a robust pace."