Rasmussen - Consumer Confidence Hits Two-Year Low

Image via WikipediaThe Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell three points on Thursday to 67.8. That’s the lowest level in nearly two years, since July 24, 2009. Consumer confidence is down four points from a week ago, down eleven points from a month ago and down ten points from three months ago.

Confidence in the stability of the U.S. banking system is also down.

Following last Friday’s disappointing jobs report, confidence fell to a 2011 low and then regained a bit of lost ground. It often takes a full week before the impact of a jobs report is reflected in consumer confidence data.

Just 30% say their own finances are in good or excellent shape. That’s down from 43% just before Lehman Brothers collapsed in the fall of 2008 and from 35% when Barack Obama took office. At the beginning of 2011, 34% rated their own finances good or excellent.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) rate their finances as poor, up from 23% at the beginning of the year.

Just 21% believe their own finances are getting better while 52% say they are getting worse. Those figures are also more pessimistic compared to the beginning of the year. The first update of 2011 showed that 24% thought their finances were getting better and 43% thought they were getting worse. More...