U.S. Consumer Sentiment Deteriorates Less Than Previously Estimated In July

(RTTNews) - Consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by less than previously estimated in the month of July, according to a report released by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan on Friday.

The report said the final reading on the consumer sentiment index for July came in at 81.8 compared to the mid-month reading of 81.3.

Despite the upward revision, the index is still down from the final June reading of 82.5 and below economist estimates for a reading of 82.0.

"What has recently dominated the attention of consumers is job and income growth," survey director Richard Curtin said, according to Reuters.

He added, "Despite the recent improvement, consumers have yet to take recent economic gains to indicate that more robust growth in jobs and wages will be forthcoming."

The report showed that the survey's gauge of consumer expectations for July was upwardly revised to 71.8 from 71.1 but still came in below the June reading of 73.5.

Meanwhile, the survey's barometer of current economic conditions for July was upwardly revised to 97.4 from 91.7 and came in above 96.6 in the previous month.

The report also said one-year inflation expectation rose to 3.3 percent in July from 3.1 percent in June, while the five-to-10-year inflation outlook fell to 2.7 percent from 2.9 percent.