Consumers shrug off Ebola fears, confidence highest in seven years

The Survey of Consumer Sentiment updated Friday by the University of Michigan and Thomson Reuters increased for the third month in a row to the highest level since July 2007.

In a release accompanying Friday’s index release, the survey’s chief economist, Richard Curtin, attributed the improvement to underlying growth in the U.S. economy.

“Consumers have not overreacted to the negative news of a global slowdown or Ebola nor to the positive news of lower gas prices. Instead, consumers have kept their focus on improved job and wage prospects,” Curtin said.

He added: “Finally, five years after the start of the recovery, consumers have begun to adopt the expectations and behaviors that have driven past expansions.”

Although the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis has been among the weakest of U.S. post-war recoveries, the labor market recovery has accelerated in 2014. The unemployment rate has fallen from 6.6 percent at the beginning of the year to 5.9 percent in September. Economic growth also has picked up over the year, with gross domestic product expanding at a 3.5 percent annual clip in the third quarter, according to an initial report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday.

Friday’s results from the University of Michigan index back up a report from the Conference Board earlier in the week that consumers’ attitudes were more positive than at any point since before the financial crisis in late 2008. Both indices had plummeted in late 2013 during a congressional standoff over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling.

Both reports found that U.S. families’ expectations for their own employment opportunities and finances over the medium term have improved significantly in recent months.

In October, more households expected income gains than anytime since September 2008, according to the University of Michigan survey.