Consumer confidence up again last week

Although weekly initial jobless claims were up last week by 27,000 to 412,000, the labor market is expected to continue improving in the coming months. The job market has steadily gotten better in the past six months, providing consumers with more money to spend. 

That is reflected in a 0.4 percent increase in retail sales in March, showing that consumers are still spending despite being saddled with near-record gas prices, which have eclipsed $3.80 for a gallon of regular fuel, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday. 

In a separate report, wholesale prices excluding food and energy were up 1.9 percent in the 12 months through March. That’s a 1.8 percent increase from February and the largest year-over-year gain since August 2009. 

The measure of personal finances increased to minus 0.5 from minus 0.9, while the buying climate index increased to minus 48 from minus 50, which are each the highest since February, the Bloomberg report showed. 

Reflecting the labor market outlook, the comfort gauges improved last week for Americans with full- and part-time jobs, as well as for those who were unemployed.