Consumer Sentiment Surges To Highest Level In 15 Years -- Trump Does Not Deserve Credit -- WSJ -- May 17, 2019

Updates

May 18, 2019: I just showed this to a Harvard MBA who had not seen the most recent survey. I showed him the graph below with the two ovals. He said that the survey was a "lagging indicator" and that in fact the Obama administration put this all in motion. So, there you have it. From the mouth of a(n) Harvard MBA.

So, let's take a look: google "is consumer sentiment a leading indicator or a lagging indicator?" First hit: investopedia. Confirms what I thought. However, yes, the current economy is the result of things that occurred in the past. 

Original Post 

The University of Michigan’s preliminary print on its consumer sentiment index rose to 102.4, up from 97.2 in April and well ahead of expectations.

Ahead of expectations. And that rise from 97.2 to 102.4 is not trivial.

The last time consumer sentiment was this high was in 2004, five years before Obama took office. 

Link here.

• The University of Michigan’s preliminary print on its consumer sentiment index rose to 102.4, up from 97.2 in April and well ahead of expectations. 
• “Consumers viewed prospects for the overall economy much more favorably, with the economic outlook for the near and longer term reaching their highest levels since 2004,” says Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers.

Going back through my journal(s) during the Obama years. It's easy to forget how incredibly bad things were during the Obama administration and how he was doing his best to make things worst. Oil was at $110 and gasoline was averaging $4.00/gallon across the US. He had no plan. His administration was supporting Iran. He was banning drilling on federal land. Today, "they" are still banning drilling on federal land, but crude oil (WTI) is struggling to stay above $60, and gasoline is $2.60/gallon, except out in California, where they now talk of banning automobiles.

And yet the WSJ has an editorial today: Trump does not deserve credit for this economy.

Link here.

The delta between the two ovals in the graphic above is not trivial.

Of course, CNBC reminds us, it's important to note that the optimistic consumer outlook was mostly recorded before U.S.-China trade deliberations soured earlier this month.

Significant achievements of the 115th US Congress, Pelosi's house:

And we move on.