Confidence among US consumers reached its highest level in three months as a summer stock market rally and recent signs of economic stabilisation raised optimism that a recovery could be in sight.

Separately yesterday, official figures showed that businesses were succeeding in shedding inventories and enjoyed an uptick in sales in July, signalling that consumer demand might be starting to resurface.

In its September preliminary report the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer survey rose from 65.7 to 70.2, beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

The rise was fuelled by a sharp gain in optimism about the coming 12 months. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009