Although the increase is within the poll’s margin of error, the Zions Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey was up again in January. The hike — from 79.9 in December to 80.6 in January (0.9 percent) — was the third straight increase for the survey, which saw a series of declines through the fall months.
A similar survey conducted by the University of Michigan reports that sentiment increased by 6.6 percent among Americans nationwide during January.
Utah consumer sentiment improved or remained flat in all categories except for durable goods — items like household appliances and electronics — that took a slight decline.
“While Utah confidence levels are lower than a year ago. It’s good to see them improving over the past few months,” said Robert Spendlove, Zions Bank senior economist.
With the small monthly increase in Utah consumer sentiment, this marks three consecutive monthly increases. However, Utah consumer sentiment remains 11.8 percent lower than a year earlier, while U.S. consumer sentiment remains 21.3 percent lower.
The Utah consumer confidence survey uses key questions from the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers. These questions measure residents’ views of the present economic situation and their expectations for the economy in the future. Data gathered from the key questions are used to create the consumer confidence index for Utah. Demographic questions are included in the questionnaire to allow for additional analysis of the data and to assess the representativeness of the sample.
The full results of the monthly Zions Bank Consumer Sentiment Survey can be accessed at https://gardner.utah.edu/zions-bank-consumer-sentiment-survey/.