Jobless Claims
Another report today showed claims unexpectedly declined last week to the lowest level since May 2008. Applications decreased by 20,000 to 368,000 in the week ended Feb. 26, according to the Labor Department. Economists forecast claims would climb to 395,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
Renters, who have less at stake as home prices fall, were among the categories in the comfort survey that showed the most improvement last week, according to today's report. Their outlook gauge rose to minus 40.7 last week, the highest since March 2008.
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index is based on responses to telephone interviews with a random sample of 1,000 consumers aged 18 and over.
Each week, 250 respondents are asked for their views on the economy, personal finances and buying climate; the percentage of negative responses is subtracted from the share of positive views and divided by three.
Margin Of Error
The comfort index can range from 100, indicating every participant in the survey had a positive response to all three components, to minus 100, signaling all views were negative. The margin of error for the headline reading is 3 percentage points.
The responses are broken down by participants' sex, age, income level, race, region of residence, political affiliation, marital and employment status.
Readings of minus 40 for the index, which is based on a four-week average, have historically been the threshold indicating Americans think a recovery from recession has begun, said Langer.
Field work for the index is done by SSRS/Social Science Research Solutions in Media, Pennsylvania.