Confidence among U.S. consumers dropped in July to the lowest level this year as the labor market and broader economy showed few signs of improvement. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final index of sentiment declined to 72.3 this month from 73.2 in June.
A slowdown in hiring in the second quarter, which may reflect companies’ concerns about demand as Europe’s economy falters, is damping moods of Americans whose spending accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. Another report today showed the expansion cooled in the second quarter.
Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S., rose at a 1.5 percent annual rate in the second quarter after a 2 percent gain in the first three months of the year, Commerce Department figures showed. The report showed household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, also grew at a 1.5 percent annual rate, the weakest in a year.
Estimates for the Michigan confidence measure ranged from 69 to 75, according to the Bloomberg survey of 63 economists. The index averaged 64.2 during the last recession and 89 in the five years before the 18-month economic slump that ended in June 2009. Read more >>
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