Consumer Sentiment report: Optimism is "absolutely as strong as it gets"

Optimism is absolutely as strong as it gets giving a major boost to consumer sentiment which jumped well beyond forecasts, to 96.1 vs Econoday's median consensus for 94.6 and high-end forecast of 95.2. The expectations component, reflecting strong optimism for the jobs market, is an absolute standout, at 97.8 for a 12-year high and an 11.0 point surge from mid-month and a 13.6 point surge from final May. The 13.6 point spread is the largest monthly gain since March 1991.

The current conditions index also shows a very strong gain to 108.9 vs 106.8 at mid-month and 100.8 for final May. The current conditions was slightly higher in January though the 8.1 point gain from final May is the strongest since December 2013. Gains in this component point to gains for May-to-June readings on jobs and consumer spending.

In a further surprise, all this strength isn't triggering inflationary expectations which, compared to final May, are down 1 tenth for the 1-year outlook to 2.7 percent and down 2 tenths for the 5-year outlook to 2.6 percent. Both of these are very low readings for this report.

This is a stunning report, lining up with other recent positive indications on the consumer including jobless data and yesterday's strength in income and spending, the latter including big spending on autos. The consumer is very upbeat -- earning more and spending more.