Consumer Confidence Up: CEA

TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 1/24/2012

Arlington, Va. - Consumer confidence in the overall economy is at a four-year high, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE).

The CEA ICE hit 177.3 in January, up almost four points from December and two points higher than January 2011. The ICE measures consumer expectations about the broader economy.

"Overall sentiment continues to improve as the ICE has rebounded since reaching an all-time low in November," said Shawn DuBravac, the CEA's chief economist and research director. "Sentiment has improved by more than 13 percent in the past two months, which is a hopeful sign of consumer expectations for recovery in 2012."

However, consumer confidence specifically in technology fell in January to 88, according to the CEA Index of Consumer Technology Expectations. This measures consumer expectations on technology spending. It is down 5.5 points from December, but is in line with normal consumer attitudes toward spending on tech that follow the holiday selling season.