In its advanced estimate, the University of Michigan announced that the Consumer Confidence Index improved to 97.8 in March from 93.8 in February and came in above the market expectation of 95.3. Key takeaways from the press release • The early March gain in sentiment was entirely due to households with incomes in the bottom two-thirds of the distribution, whose sentiment rose to 97.4 from 90.0 in February. • Rising income expectations were accompanied by lower expected year-ahead inflation rates, resulting in more favorable real income expectations. • All income groups voiced more positive prospects for growth in ... (full story)