E Around The World Consumers Are Becoming More Optimistic

Among the advanced economies slow and steady growth has been accompanied by noticeable improvements in consumer confidence.

The aggregate confidence indexes for a broad number of OECD and non-OECD countries are roughly back to former, pre-recession highs. In March, the U.S. consumer confidence index rose to its highest level in 16 years.

The large economies have managed numerous challenges and are continuing to grow steadily. The Great Recession, the worst downturn since the 1930s, ended eight years ago. The global economy has handled the recent oil shock quite well. Even the deceleration in growth of the Chinese economy has turned out to be less alarming than originally expected. Interest rates around the world are still unusually low, and the financial crises in Europe also seem to be fading away.

Three of the largest economies in the world, the U.S, Japan, and Germany are virtually at full employment. Low energy prices have also boosted consumer confidence.

Even the fact that the U.S. is embarking on a course of higher interest rates does not seem too alarming for consumers.