Confidence among U.S. consumers improved in April for a second month amid signs the longest recession in the postwar era may be easing.

The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment rose to 61.9, the highest since September, from 57.3 in March. The reading on expectations for six months from now improved. The index reached a three-decade low of 55.3 in November.

Recent reports indicate housing and manufacturing, two of the hardest-hit areas, may be stabilizing, supporting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s view that the U.S.’s “sharp decline” could be slowing. An improvement in confidence may help sustain a recovery in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

“The darkest phase of the recession is behind us, according to consumers,” said Jonathan Basile, an economist at Credit Suisse Holdings Inc. in New York., whose prediction that the gauge would be 62 was the closest forecast in the Bloomberg survey. Still, Basile said, the April level is “very consistent with a sluggish consumer profile” and a full economic recovery is “not under foot right now.”

Economists forecast the sentiment index would rise to 58.5, according to the median of 63 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 55 to 62.9.

(Bloomberg.com)