March Consumer Confidence Plunges

March consumer confidence plunged to 59.7 from 69.6, and well below expectations of a 67.5 print. Both components of the index dipped, with both the present situation and expectations indices sliding from 61.4 and 72.4, to 57.9 and 60.9, respectively.

And just to make sure the S&P ramps to all time highs on ongoing miserable economic, corporate profit and, of course, sovereign insolvency news, we got both New Home Sales, dropping from 431K to 411K, missing expectations of 420K, and the Richmond Fed also missing expectations of a 6 print, dropping from last month's 6 to 3. All in all, if this latest round of ugly and rapidly getting worse economic data doesn't send the S&P to new all time highs, nothing will. Well, perhaps another European country going broke may do the trick. Read more >>

Consumer confidence plunges to lowest level in more than a year

Consumer confidence plunged in January to its lowest level in more than a year, reflecting higher Social Security taxes that left Americans with less take-home pay.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to 58.6 in January. That's down from 66.7 in December and the lowest since November 2011.

Conference Board economist Lynn Franco said the tax increase was a key reason confidence tumbled and made Americans less optimistic about the next six months.

Congress and the White House reached a deal to prevent income taxes from rising on most Americans Jan. 1. But they allowed a temporary cut in Social Security taxes to expire. For a worker earning $50,000 a year, take-home pay will shrink this year by about $1,000. Read more >>

Consumer Confidence Crashes to 9 Month Low

With inflation expectations soaring and jobs plentiful relative to hard-to-get falling slightly, Consumer Confidence plunged its most in 10 months to a level not seen since November of last year. It seems that despite all the hopes and prayers priced into US equity market valuations, the US Consumer remains unimpressed, unhappy, and unemployed. Of course, the 'good is bad, bad is better' market has interpreted this as a clear QE-on flag (for this millisecond anyway). Read more >>

US Consumer Confidence Declines to Five-Month Low

Confidence among U.S. consumers dropped in June for a fourth consecutive month as mounting concern over jobs and incomes dimmed the outlook for spending. The Conference Board’s sentiment index fell to 62, a five- month low, from a revised 64.4 in May, figures from the New York-based private research group showed today. Another report showed home prices were stabilizing.

The slide in confidence raises the risk that the slowdown in hiring revealed by last month’s jobs report will cause households to retrench, restraining the spending that accounts for about 70 percent of the economy. The weak labor market is overshadowing the benefit of the lowest gasoline prices in five months, one reason why companies like Ford are keeping an eye on attitudes.

“The employment situation continues to weigh on consumer minds,” said Yelena Shulyatyeva, a U.S. economist at BNP Paribas in New York, who correctly forecast the confidence index. “Usually consumers react to falling gasoline prices by increasing their spending, but this time around it looks like they’re a little bit cautious.” Read more >>

Consumer Confidence Plunges Most in 8 Months

abcnews
Americans confidence in the economy suffered the biggest drop in eight months as worries about the weak jobs, housing and stock markets rattled them again. The decline comes after a few months of optimism amid some positive economic news.

The Conference Board, a private research group, said on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index now stands at 64.9, down from a revised 68.7 in April. With gas prices falling, Americans were expected to push the measure to 70, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

US consumer confidence is collapsing

Image by Sifter via FlickrUS consumer confidence is collapsing and there is no other word for it. The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence posted yet another decline in October, falling to 39.8 (previous: 46.4) - the weakest reading since the end of the recession! Looking at the detail there is a rather worrying issue here as the decrease reflects declines in both the present situation and expectations components, whereas the previous, more recent major moves down in the index were driven primarily by the expectations component.

This means the concerns are NOW. Spending will now surely take a hit and some shocks in retail sales are on the way in the US and in the UK as deleveraging is forced upon the masses. I cannot highlight or stress how important this issue is to growth everywhere. As prices increase and wages stagnate, things are going to get tougher into the winter and I note with interest the component in the US data highlighting concerns over future earnings. In the past low confidence has not always hit sales but in my mind things are different as the debt burden is almost unbearable and many have little credit left, adjustments will have to be made.

When these adjustments come through, in my mind very soon, the Fed and other central banks may see a steep move towards deflation as growth stumbles and economies go back into recession, probably led by the EU then the UK and finally the US. The world cannot fill that massive customer void.

The timing of this could be dreadful as just at a time when the world needs China and the other Asian exporters to pull us through, the hard landings will hit. Global growth expectations are far too optimistic and policy shifts will be swift where possible. What the world does not need right now is a falling Dollar as that complicates matters worse but it is of little concern to Bernanke and Geithner as they are concerned about America and rightly so.

Again I reiterate that a world where we have deleveraging from Sovereigns (which demands draconian austerity measures), banks (lack of credit supply to small businesses, the essential for growth) and the consumer, is not a world that is going to grow. In fact the speed of the fall could surprise. More...