NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. consumer confidence rose in December to its strongest level since April but may not signal genuine improvement, a private research group said Thursday.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 109 from a revised 105.3 in November and 105.1 in October -- the highest reading since April's 109.8 figure and better than Wall Street anticipated.
Despite the latest improvement in the index, "it is too soon to tell if this boost in confidence is a genuine signal that better times are ahead," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.
Consumers' outlook for the next six months was more encouraging than in November.
Those expecting business conditions to get better increased to 16.3 percent from 16.0 percent. Those anticipating business conditions to worsen decreased to 7.9 percent from 8.5 percent.
The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households through Dec. 19.
