Consumer confidence is an economic indicator which measures the degree of optimism that consumers feel about the overall state of the economy and their personal financial situation. How confident people feel about stability of their incomes affect their economic decisions, such as spending activity, and therefore serves as one of the key indicators for the overall shape of the economy. In essence, if consumer confidence is high, consumers will be making more purchases. On the other hand, if confidence is lower, consumers tend to save more and spend less. A month-to-month trend in consumer confidence suggests the outlook of consumers on their ability to find and retain good jobs according to their perception of the current state of the economy and their personal financial situation. Consumer confidence typically increases when the economy expands, and decreases when the economy contracts. However, this does not necessarily happen, since consumers may not have perfect information on the situation of the economy. In the United States, there is evidence that the measure is a lagging indicator of stock market performance.