December's US consumer confidence reading rises to 110.7, a five-month high. Yahoo Finance's Josh Schafer joins the Live show to talk about how this print is reflected in consumer habits, jobs data, and even sentiment toward gas prices (RB=F).

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

- There is new data out today taking a look at how Americans feel about the US economy and its path forward.

That would be consumer confidence.

Here with a vibe check is our very own Josh Schafer.

So Josh, break down where consumer confidence stands.

It looked like it was a strong number to me, and what this says about how the consumer is feeling.

JOSH SCHAFER: All right, stocks down a little bit today for the first day.

And as you said, 10 days, right?

Vibes are high, though, guys.

Come on, let's bring the vibes up.

Let's talk consumer confidence.

The vibes have been good overall in the US economy over the last month and in the stock market.

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And that's really what you see reflected in this consumer confidence data.

This is the highest reading we've had for consumer confidence since July, which is, again, when the S&P 500 made its previous 2023 highs.

You see stocks and consumer confidence really kind of moved together a lot of times.

A couple of things to point out here from the print that really stuck out to me, when you think about recent data, is just in general, gas prices, guys, at a 2023 low right now, hovering near that level.

We just talked about the stock market.

The Dow Jones has been setting new records basically every day for the past five days now.

The S&P 500, very close to a record as well.

So it's not surprising to see consumers starting to feel better overall about the economy, and they're also feeling better about inflation.

Their inflation expectations also coming in at their lowest level in more than two years, which is normally, Fed Chair Powell would say, a welcome sign for the central bank.

If people feel like prices are coming down, that's good for inflation.

Because when people feel like prices are going to stay high, they'll pay up and that keeps inflation up.

So a solid consumer confidence print today overall.

- Yeah.

And we know how important this data point is when you think about the economic picture, consumers, about 70% of economic activity, right?

So this portends well for where we see consumer spending going.

What else stood out to you, in terms of how the consumer is doing?

It looks like the labor market is holding up, but what else stood out to you?