US downturn US consumers were more optimistic at the beginning of the year, as the outlook for jobs improved.
Consumer sentiment rose for a fifth consecutive month to 74, from 69.9 in December, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index. That was the highest level since May and above the 71.5 that economists had expected. The survey was still well below its average reading of 89 in the half-decade before the recession that began in late 2007, however.
