Reuters
U.S. consumers entered 2023 with the most optimism in nine months, buoyed by healthy incomes and easing inflation even as most worry a recession could trip up the economy this year. The University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers benchmark Consumer Sentiment Index rose nearly 9% to 64.9 in January - the highest since April 2022 - from a final reading of 59.7 in December. The forward-looking expectations index rose to the highest in a year, but Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu warned the recent improvements could be jeopardized by the political standoff in Washington over U.S. government borrowing.