ANN ARBOR – More rapid job creation, higher wages,and gains in household wealth have eased the financial strains on households as well as supported more favorable buying plans for vehicles and household durables. While consumers considered their current financial situation to now be in the best shape since the start of the Great Recession,those gains have not caused consumers to confidently expect a continuation of robust growth in the year ahead. Nonetheless, confidence is sufficiently high to expand consumption by an annual rate of 2.5% in 2014.

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