CONSUMER SENTIMENT AND CONFIDENCE IS HIGH

Only about a week ago, I published a piece in which I said that Consumer Sentiment was high.*  Now there is a report that another measurement by the Conference Board  - the Consumer Confidence Index is at its highest value since the year 2000 at 138.4.  The all-time high was 144.7 set in 2000.
"Consumers' assessment of current conditions remains extremely favorable, bolstered by a strong economy and robust job growth," said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board. "These historically high confidence levels should continue to support healthy consumer spending, and should be welcome news for retailers as they begin gearing up for the holiday season."**

An additional bit of good news is: The average FICO credit score hit an all-time high this year, reaching 704 and continuing an upward trend that began about a decade ago. Scores are increasing because more people are checking their credit and staying informed, and because of new standards for how negative information on your report is handled.***

The attitudes of business seem to be changing awfully fast in a positive direction.  I wondered before if we are entering a bubble phase of the stock market.  These recent reports only tend to confirm that feeling.****  If we are entering a bubble, we have yet to see the blowout phase.

Of course, not all the news is so good.  For example, new home construction is low and only slowly recovering. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxvzKkmXRxcHQnNlBRPBLFLZZXvW)

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2018/09/government-debt-and-mixed-economic.html
** https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/consumer-confidence-september.html
*** https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/heres-how-credit-scores-compare-across-generations.html?forYou=true
**** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2018/09/is-boom-over.html