Consumers appear to be weathering the steady rise in gas prices quite well,

While the Index remains below its pre-Katrina levels, the shock of the hurricanes and subsequent leap in gas prices has begun wearing off just in time for the holiday season. Despite this latest boost in confidence, holiday spending will be driven by the bargains consumers have come to expect.

We could be very well in a period where this is as good as it gets. If prices at the pump keep ticking, and they actually have been ticking upward since this survey was cut off, it very well could take a bite out of confidence.

While consumers have managed to keep the U.S. out of a recession for several years now, that soon may no longer be the case.

We think a lot of that is reaction to the spike in prices at the pump following Katrina.

[Consumers] are more optimistic about the outlook than last month. Historically, this trend is prevalent during a recovery.