“In our community, there’s a McDonald’s restaurant that is neighbors with a Panera Bread eatery. It takes just a glance to compare the traffic to each restaurant. When Panera looks busier relative to McDonald’s, it appears to me that consumer confidence is trending higher. Here’s how I think about it: commuters and families are making a daily decision about their level of spending in real time. With virtually no effort differential, it’s purely a financial confidence play determining which parking lot they enter.” —Caleb Huftalin, Catalyst Wealth Management, Suwanee, Ga.