Dive Brief:

• Consumer confidence scores published on Tuesday remain relatively unchanged in July following an increase in June, according to nonprofit business and research group the Conference Board. 

• The Confidence Index now stands at 97.3, compared to 97.4 in June. The Present Situation Index (measuring consumer assessment of business conditions today) increased from 116.6 to 118.3, while the Expectations Index (measuring assessment of a short-term outlook) edged down to 83.3 from 84.6 in June. Consumers expect business conditions to worsen slightly (11.2% to 12.3%), while fewer expect the labor market to worsen (17.7% to 17%).

• The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, was conducted for the Conference Board by Nielsen through July 14.

Dive Insight:

Retailers benefit from consumer confidence, and this midsummer temperature-taking shows things are stable. Some 16.6% of consumers expect their incomes to rise, fewer than June’s 18.2%. But just 10.8% expect their income to fall, down from 11.3% in June.

Lynn Franco, director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement that positivity from consumers about current business and labor market conditions "suggests the economy will continue to expand at a moderate pace." But Franco added that consumers remain "cautiously optimistic about growth in the near-term.”

The release follows the publication of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment report, which found decreasing confidence among higher-income households following the U.K. vote last month to leave the European Union, known as “Brexit.”

“For these households, the initial impact on domestic stock prices translated Brexit into personal wealth losses,” University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Chief Economist Richard Curtin said in a statement. “While stock prices quickly rebounded, an underlying sense of uncertainty about global prospects as well as the outlook for the domestic economy have not faded."

But real consumer spending could rise by 2.7% in 2016 and 2017, Curtin said, adding that the overall decline in the Sentiment Index is "rather minor" and could recover some losses by early August. Most importantly, he said, "the least affected components have been personal finances and buying plans.”