U.S. consumer, housing data underscore economy's resilience

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 98.1 this month from 96.3 in December as households shrugged off January's stock market sell-off and focused instead on a strengthening labour market. "Households remain quite upbeat about the economic prospects and, given the importance of consumer spending to overall domestic activity, the resiliency in household sentiment will be seen by the Federal Reserve as good news," said Millan Mulraine, deputy U.S. chief economist at TD Se