A remarkably strong economy has fueled soaring confidence.
Low inflation keeps prices down, while low interest rates make debt cheap.
Increased productivity, up 2.2. percent in 1998, lowers the cost of doing business, allowing wages to rise without cutting into corporate profits. Unemployment now hovers a point above its 30-year low. This week's results are based on 1,050 interviews in the month ending Jan. 31 and have an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The three resulting numbers are then added and divided by 3. The survey began in December 1985.