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Consumers’ Believe the Economy Improves

Nearly 30% of consumers say they believe the economy and their personal finances are getting better, a jump of more than 6 percentage points from December and the highest figure in the last year, according to the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor.

 The number of people who say the economy has declined from last month, is down 2 %  to 56%. Concurrently, the percentage of consumer who rated the economy as good or excellent came in at over 11%, up more than 2 % from the previous month making it the highest number for the Monitor since September 2008.

 Consumer attitude concerning their finances indicated a marked up tick, at the same time more consumers were reporting more money left over at the end of the month:

Households across the spectrum report a positive view toward their own finances.

Of that group, nearly 27% said their personal finances were improving, up more than 7 points from the month before. Consumers with less than $40,000 annual income, almost 15% state they are more positive, up almost 4 % from the previous month.

47% of consumers say they had more money after paying bills, an increase of 2 points from the previous before.

Of those who reported having money left over, more than 16% said that amount was greater than they had the previous month, a jump of nearly 6 points from December.

Like last months numbers, consumers now say that they are going to be more cautious  with their money.

Just 7% said they would spend more next month on discretionary personal items like going out to dinner or the movies, which is the lowest percentage since January 2011. In addition, 49% said they would spend less next month on discretionary personal items, an increase of 1%, while 41% said they would spend about the same as the prior month, an increase of 3 points.

In addition, 45% reported they would spend less next month on major personal purchases like a vacation, which is down 2 percentage points from the month before, while 40% said they plan to spend the same, up 3 points from December.