Conference Board Consumer Confidence
The July Conference Board Consumer Confidence # was 46.6, a touch weaker than the consensus of 49 and down from 49.3 in June. Both the Present Situation and Expectations fell. The answers to the labor market questions weighed down the # and reflects a still weakening environment. Those that said jobs were Plentiful fell almost 1 point to the lowest level since Feb ‘83 and those that said jobs were Hard To Get rose 3.3 points to just shy of its highest since Feb ‘92. Also, the 6 month employment and income outlook worsened. Notwithstanding some signs of the housing market bottoming, those that plan to buy a home within 6 months fell .5 point to the lowest level since Oct ‘82. Those that plan to buy a car fell a touch but may rise going forward following the ‘Clunkers’ bill. One year inflation expectations fell to 5.5% from 5.9% as gasoline prices receded from its recent highs.
July 28th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
[...] if you hate your job, be grateful you have one: In today’s Conference Board Confidence Index, consumers were notably pessimistic about their income expectations. That makes sense considering [...]