The Conference Board, said its index for consumer's short term outlook on the economy went up to 81.5 for August from 80.3 in July. This beat expectations for 79.0 by 2.5.The expectations index shot up to 88.7 from the revised 86.0. But its not all good news because consumers had a less positive outlook about their current standing, with the present situation index falling down to 70.7 from July's 73.6.