Dec confidence falls but consumers spent anyway

By Peter Boockvar - December 28th, 2010, 11:36AM

Dec Consumer Confidence at 52.5 was below estimates of 56.3 and down from 54.3 in Nov. Both the Present Situation and Future Expectation components fell. While we’ve seen signs of a better labor market, especially with initial jobless claims of late, the improvement was not very evident in today’s data. Those that said jobs were Plentiful fell to 3.9 from 4.3 and those that said jobs were Hard to Get rose .5 pt to 46.8, the highest since Feb. Positively, those that said Business Conditions were Normal rose to a high in this recovery but things were not incrementally better as those that said things were Good fell to the lowest since Feb. Those that plan to buy a home rose .1 pt but remained punk at near the lowest since ’82. Those that plan to buy a car fell to a 6 month low. One yr inflation expectations rose .2% to 5.3%, the most since May. Bottom line, a blah report but consumers took out their wallets this holiday season anyway.

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Category: MacroNotes.

Comments

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

3 Responses to “Dec confidence falls but consumers spent anyway”

vader Says:
December 28th, 2010 at 12:38 pm
It is interesting. Consumers spent. There are some if ands and buts to consider. Was this consumption pulled forward expressed as gifts and was the gifts really necessaries expressed as gifts,
Bill W Says:
December 28th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
How much of an effect does the latest NFP report have on
the employment component? I wonder if pessisism is just in fashion.
You tell people that things suck and then you go out and shop
anyway.
Winston Says:
December 28th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Mr. Boockvar,

Doesn’t that seem strange to you? I will admit to being confused by this. People went on a spending binge, yet confidence is in the crapper. That lack of confidence revolves around job prospects, so says the confidence report.

What gives?