THE ECONOMY

Moderate Rise Seen in Consumer Optimism: Confidence in the economy rose to 77.3 in August from 77.0 last month, according to the widely followed University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey, market sources said. But the figure was still well below June’s level of 81.5 and December’s 91.0. The survey shows lingering concern about the strength of the economy, with the “economic conditions” component in the report falling to 95.1 from 96.2 in July. The “expectations” index was 65.8, up from 64.7.