US consumer confidence rises despite omicron, higher prices

By PAUL WISEMAN
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence rose this month as Americans shrugged off concerns about rising prices and COVID’-19′s highly contagious omicron variant. The Conference Board, a business research group, said Wednesday that its consumer confidence index — which takes into account consumers’ assessment of current conditions and the their outlook for the future — rose to 115.8 in December, the highest reading since July. In November, it registered 111.9. Consumers’ view of current conditions dipped slightly, but their outlook for the next six months brightened. Their expectations for inflation actually dropped this month — even though the government reported that prices rose in November at the fastest year-over-year rate since 1982.