U.S. Consumer Comfort Little Changed; Partisan Divide Widens

Americans’ confidence held steady last week, remaining near the highest level of the expansion, as faith in the buying climate improved while views on the economy deteriorated, Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index figures showed Thursday.

U.S. consumer comfort hasn’t recovered to the 16-year high it reached just before hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria struck, but it remains above a two-month low reached in the first week of this month. As the debate over tax reform heats up in Congress, Americans grew more divided along party lines. Republicans’ confidence increased, with the partisan gap now favoring GOP comfort over Democrats’ by 22 points, the most since early September.