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Florida's Consumer Confidence Climbing

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GAINESVILLE (CBSMiami/AP) — A survey released by the University of Florida on Tuesday revealed Florida's consumer confidence is reaching its highest point in more than seven years.

The report showed consumer confidence was 86 in the month of November. That's on a scale of 2 to 150 benchmarked to 1966 at a value of 100.

That's a jump from October and the highest it has been since March 2007.

Chris McCarty, director of the UF center that does the survey, said this is the highest consumer confidence has been since the end of the Great Recession. The jump was unexpected since consumer confidence normally declines following an election.

But McCarty said lower gas prices and improving economic conditions contributed to the rise in consumer confidence. He said the jump bodes well for the upcoming holiday season.

(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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