Pessimistic readings from the University of Michigan survey are at odds with economic trends. A change in methodology may be partly to blame.

Consumer sentiment picked up in June, after recent dire readings, a new University of Michigan survey showed. A preliminary reading for June came in at 60.5. That was up from 52.2 in May, and higher than the 54.

U.S. consumer sentiment improved for the first time in six months in June as trade tensions between the U.S. and China eased, but households worried about the economy's trajectory. The rise in sentiment reported by the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers on Friday was,