ANN ARBOR - Rising household wealth rather than resurgent jobs and wages was mainly responsible for the recent gains in consumer confidence. The June strength was concentrated among households with income above $75,000,with their confidence rising to its highest level since mid2007. In contrast to the healthy gains in stocks and home values enjoyed by upper income households, lower income households were more likely to report income declines and no increases in their household wealth. To be sure, the June falloff in confidence among lower income households was not large, and more importantly, all income groups anticipated continued modest gains in the overall economy as well as continued slow declines in the national unemployment rate.

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