Consumer confidence in September was at it’s highest since January.

US consumer confidence surprisingly grew in September with many Americans feeling positive about current economic conditions despite recent falls in stock market prices.

Following positive numbers in August The Conference Board, a business research group, said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 103 in September from 101.3 in August. Economists expected the index to drop this month due to concerns over emerging markets and crumbling stock market valuations however it was the highest since January.

Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board said “while consumers view current economic conditions more favorably, they do not foresee growth accelerating in the months ahead,” said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board.

Less consumers anticipated business conditions to improve over the next 6 months while more expected conditions to worsen. The report stated those seeing “plentiful” jobs increased by 3 percent to 25.1 percent and consumers claiming jobs are “hard to get” rose by roughly the same amount to 24.3 percent.

“The surprising improvement in confidence suggests that the recent international turbulence has had little impact on consumers’ domestic confidence,” economist Bricklin Dwyer of BNP Paribas wrote in a research note. “We expect consumption to continue to expand at a solid pace throughout the end of 2015.”

“The unemployment rate is trending downward toward 5.0 per cent, and more consumers are optimistic about the job market than pessimistic for the first time since before the Great Recession,” he said.

Due to rising employment opportunities, falling fuel prices many household views of current economic conditions have improved and spurred on spending and helped the U.S. economy move forward through the market turmoil and global slowdown.

Economists were expecting a reading of 96.1 instead of 103, according to a Reuters poll.