[Consumer confidence index rises for five consecutive months, 1-year inflation expectations rise to 2.8%] Golden Finance reported that Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan Consumer Survey, said that the consumer confidence index confirmed the data at the beginning of this month, rising for the fifth consecutive month, reaching a new high since April 2024. Consumers believe that the economy has improved significantly as inflation has slowed, but they do not feel that they are in a good state of development; current sentiment is roughly between the historical low reached in June 2022 and the data before the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation expectations for the next year rose from 2.6% last month to 2.8% this month, the first month-on-month increase since May, but within the range of 2.3%-3.0% in the two years before the pandemic. Long-term inflation expectations fell slightly from 3.2% last month to 3.0% this month, a slight increase from the range in the two years before the pandemic.