UK consumer confidence rises in August on improved business outlook

(Sharecast News) - Rising optimism surrounding business activity gave UK consumer confidence a boost in August, according to a survey out on Wednesday published by YouGov and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR). The consumer confidence index rose to 106.4 last month from 105.5 in July, moving further beyond the 100-point mark which separates negative and positive sentiment.

While still pessimistic, consumer views of their household finances over the past 30 days improved 0.8 points to 87.7, while their expectations for household finances over the coming 12 months rose 1.1 to 89.6.

The business activity index tracking perceptions over the past 30 days rose strongly, by 2.9 points to 107.8, while expectations for the coming year gained 2.5 to 117.7.

Workers were less enthusiastic about their job security, with the indicator for the past 30 days showing a drop of 0.8 to 91.5 to 104.9. However, the forward-looking metric rose 1.2 to 117.3.

Meanwhile, house price assessments were relatively stable though still positive, with the retrospective measure rising 0.2 to 111.6 and the prospective gauge down 0.4 at 128.1.

Sam Miley, the CEBR's head of forecasting and thought leadership, said the broad-based increase in consumer confidence reflected "ongoing momentum".

"Not since early 2024 has confidence recorded such an extended sequence of improvement. There do remain headwinds, however, notably from inflation and continued geopolitical uncertainty," Miley said.