U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in March and is now at a near four-year high according to the widely followed Conference Board consumer confidence index.

The index increased by 4.5 points to 107.2 in March after declining to 102.7 in February from January’s 106.8 reading. This month’s reading is the highest since May 2002, when it was 110.3.

“The improvement in consumers’ assessment of present-day conditions is yet another sign that the economy gained steam in early 2006,” said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “Consumer expectations, while improved, remain subdued and still suggest a cooling in activity in the latter half of this year.”

Consumers’ overall assessment of current conditions remains favourable. Those claiming conditions are “good” rose to 28.3% from 26.4%. Those claiming conditions are “bad” declined to 14.7% from 15.4%. Labor market conditions, however, remained mixed. Consumers saying jobs are “plentiful” increased to 28.4% from 27.4%, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” moved up to 20.7% from 20.2%.

Consumers’ outlook for the next six months improved moderately in March. Consumers expecting business conditions to worsen decreased to 9.9% from 10.9%, while consumers expecting business conditions to improve increased to 18.0% from 16.2%.

The outlook for the labour market was also more positive. Those expecting fewer jobs to become available in the coming months decreased to 16.6% from 19.9% in February, while those expecting more jobs edged up to 13.9% from 13.4%. The proportion of consumers anticipating their incomes to increase in the months ahead held steady at 18.8%.

The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. The cutoff date for March’s preliminary results was March 21.