Consumer Confidence in U.S. Unexpectedly Declines for Second Month in Row

[papau]

Consumer Confidence in U.S. Unexpectedly Declines for Second Month in Row

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a4sAbHBQwJvQ&refer=news_index

U.S. Consumer Confidence Falls With Job Concerns (Update2)
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in September for a second straight month amid concern about hiring and rising oil prices.

``If consumers don't cheer up, the economy is in danger of losing traction again,'' said Chris Rupkey, senior financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. in New York.

The New York-based Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 96.8 from 98.7 in August. Americans were less confident about current economic conditions even as their outlook for the next six months improved. <snip>


Economists predicted the index would rise to 99.5 this month, based on the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, from August's previously reported reading of 98.2.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. It was those Gallup polls. eom

[Worst Username Ever]

2. GOOD

I want the economy to succeed, but I am at the point where PEOPLE NEED TO WAKE THE FUCK UP AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON. If the economy slumps for the next two months and the result is that Bush* is out and America is saved, FINE.

[progressivebydesign]

17. That electoral vote predictor is based on too many flawed poll. nt/

[Zorra]

19. Who could possibly have confidence with Bu$h in the WH? I'm saving

all my money in case Bu$h steals the election. Almost 4 years into the Bu$h administration, and we are still down by 3 million jobs. The economy has still not recovered from Bu$h's first year in the WH, when it all but crashed.

So I'm saving all my cash so I can still at least eat if Bu$h gets re-selected.

If Kerry gets elected, I'll use the money I saved and maybe make some investments.

If Bu$h gets another 4 years, The Depression of the 1930's is going to look like the economic boom of the Clinton era.

[demnan]

3. ``If consumers don't cheer up,

the economy is in danger of losing traction"

That is simply the most assinine thing I have ever heard an economist say. People know the economy is in the toliet, this is not about "cheering up".

[Rose Siding]

14. It's the consumer's fault

amazing.

[Egalitariat]

4. Consumer Confidence is the most meaningless statistic....

in all of economics. It has no historic correlation with consumer spending, which is hugely important.

If Consumer Confidence is "Talking the Talk", then consumer spending would be "Walking the Walk".

If consumer spending starts to drop off, then the economy will be in deep trouble. I wouldn't worry too much about Consumer Confidence.

[Lerkfish]

9. can't decide if you're joking or clueless here...

consumer confidence is a HUGE indicator for the economy. When confidence drops, large ticket item purchases are deferred because the population is "skittish". Housing starts drop, auto sales, home appliances, retail will be the hardest hit on the front lines of consumer confidence.

[progressivebydesign]

15. I agree with you - consumer confidence is key!

In fact, I'll go a bit further and say that it is THE most important indicator in our economy. I have always felt that.. and it always proves me right. Sometimes, in the tangle of GDP, unemployment, interest rates, etc., the consumer's attitudes drive the economy MUCH more than anything... it's not a reflection, it's a movement of the economy. We are a consumer society/economy, even much more now that so many mfg. jobs are lost. If we are buying, the economy ain't flying... simple as that. Bush and his ridiculous trickle-down economics puts the money in the hands of the wrong people! The savers.. he should give it to the spenders, as Clinton did. They are the ones that drive the economy from the bottom up! That is why the Consumer Confidence Index is mui importante.

[Egalitariat]

16. I agree that what you say is the theoretical result....

of consumer confidence dropping, but if you compare historic consumer spending data with historic consumer confidence data, that there is no statistical correlation.

A drop in consumer confidence has not preluded a drop in consumer spending, or vice versa. Historically.

I'm not kidding or clueless. If you made a long list of economic indicators to follow, consumer confidence should be at the bottom of the list.

I think we'll both agree that consumers drive our economy. Consumer confidence is a measure of what customers say they will do, while the spending statistics are a measure of what they "actually" do. And the two, from a stastical standpoint, are not historically correlated.

[Lerkfish]

20. I guess we have to disagree, then.

one of the major driving forces behind the prosperity under Clinton was consumer confidence, which translated into capital investments in large ticket items, increased spending...etc.

[Jack The Tab]

5. f**king idiot....Cheer up????

hey fuckface, you want to pay my natural gas bill this winter?

Then I'll go out and buy some meaningless crap.

fucking people are crazy. This guy, this 500k per year analyst, is telling us that we all need to cheer up, just like him and his family, or else the economy is going to slip...shit like this enrages me.

[shraby]

7. In order for people to be able to spend

they need jobs, and the ones who do have jobs need to know it won't be outsourced. Simple as that.

[hatrack]

6. The Conference Board, Inc.

Hmm. Do you think that if maybe, just maybe serious cracks began to appear in consumer attitudes, The Conference Board, Inc., would try really hard to report them in explicit detail?

Do you think that if maybe, just maybe wages continued to decline, insurance costs continued to soar and gasoline broke $3.00 on average nationwide, The Conference Board, Inc., would find a way to spin and massage the numbers to reassure us that everything's just fine and that confidence was improving?

Do you think that if maybe, just maybe an 800-millibar hurricane erased Miami or New Orleans and broke the back of the reinsurance industry in the process, that The Conference Board, Inc. would spell out just what this meant for the financial sector and for markets and currencies around the world?

Why should anyone be surprised that The Conference Board, Inc. is constantly "surprised" by the results of its (coughhack) impartial (wheezegasp) unbiased (phlegmhorck) results?

[fairfaxvadem]

8. I'll cheer up when that clown is out of office

But really, wages are stagnant, prices of damn near everything in the grocery store have increased over the past 3 years, gas prices on the rise, crops destroyed in Florida, insurance rates to go up to help the South recover from God's recent rath, soldiers dying every day....

Yeah, I'm cheered up already.

[yardwork]

10. It wouldn't be a surprise if they were't freeping their own polls

The truth is that the economy is in the toilet, the war is a disaster, and most Americans are well aware of those facts.

[Yavin4]

11. It's Like They Want Us To Spend No Matter What

So what you have no job!

So what you're making 40% less than what you use to make!

So what you're paying more for insurance, energy, and housing!

So what outsourcing is threatening your job!

SO what your president is a complete moron and is steering the country into quagmires throughout the Middle East thereby increasing terrorism 100-fold!


So what, get your sorry ass to that mall and buy some worthless crap that you don't really need right now!!!

Saving is for girlie-men!

[progressivebydesign]

12. "UNEXPECTEDLY"???????

The economy has NOT improved, that's just a figment of Bush's imagination.. I don't know of anyone that's found a job recently that I know! And.. I don't know of any prices being lowered, either. Why WOULDN'T people be pessimistic when they think of another stolen election. When Kerry whens, if Bush allows it to stick, the confidence will skyrocket again..

Remember, right after Bush "TOOK" office, the consumer confidence plunged.. and it has stayed at extremely low levels since... now this was BEFORE 9/11, so you can't blame it on that. People didn't want Bush, and they don't want him now... THAT is the biggest issue with these polls, it was terribly bad during his Daddy's reign, also. Those Bush men have NO head for money...

[llmart]

21. You are voicing exactly what I've felt since Jan. 2001.

The majority of the people in this country wanted Gore to be President and when Dopey stole the election, some of those people, including me, said, I'll be damned if I'm going to do anything to help this criminal out. So, I stopped buying anything unnecessary. It has been a very lean four years for us. When Kerry is elected, I'll go on a giant shopping spree and I'll be ecstatic - not just happy! You are also right about it not being related to Sept. 11th, though that's the meme they keep throwing at us. Yeah, the economy took a blow immediately afterwards, but for god's sake, it's been over 3 years now and they're still pinning the blame for a bad economy on that.

[Supersedeas]

22. propoganda speak - unexpected means unwarranted (come on sheeple)

[tom_paine]

13. "unexpectedly" a majority of citizens live in the Real World

though they are surrounded by the Televised Berlin Wall.

More and more choose to give way to the Pravda, though, of Imperial Amerika.

[IA_Seth]

18. Its that damn pessemist Kerry's fault!

he he.

Who the hell could be confident at a time like this?

I wish this was a bigger story though. Its funny how the feelings of a bunch of swift boat vets who didn't even know Kerry is bigger news than leading indicators of our nations economy (equaling another Bush failure).

[Moderator]

23. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=870169