Consumer confidence hits lowest on record

[FreeStateDemocrat]

Source: AP/MSNBC


Layoffs and stock slides contribute to weakest point in 41 years

updated 43 minutes ago
AP/WASHINGTON - Consumer confidence plunged to its lowest on record in October, a private research group said Tuesday, as stock markets dropped sharply and companies laid off workers.

The Conference Board said the consumer confidence index fell to 38, down from a revised 61.4 in September and significantly below analysts' expectations of 52.

That's the lowest level for the index since the Conference Board began tracking consumer sentiment in 1967, and the third-steepest drop. A year ago, the index stood at 95.2.

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Separately, a closely watched index of home prices fell by its steepest ever annual rate in August.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index dropped a record 16.6 percent from August last year, the largest drop since its inception in 2000.

The 23.4-point drop in the consumer confidence index from September to October is the steepest since it fell 36.9 points from October 1973 to December 1973, when the economy was in the throes of a severe recession. Then, the index was measured every two months. The index dropped 24.3 points from December 1969 to February 1970, Franco said.






Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27418337/

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Merry Christmas.

[nichomachus]

1. Confidence low? Gee, do ya think? n/t

[Festivito]

2. Let's see. 50T$ in fake notes, held by enemies, cashed in by CON thieves.

So, a bunch of CONs are sitting on piles of money they pulled out of the Ponzi scheme they started. They sit on that money in case they end up in trouble. (They can face a strongly worded letter, but just in case...)

In the mean time, for 8 years the numbers looked good while they made numbers look good while workers were downgraded in pay or shifted to new areas where housing was overpriced. Now, the moved and the unmoved cannot afford new washing machines and will do without a new one, and no new car either. All the dollars they once had flowing around them were in housing prices that dropped, and their wages dropped, or their job is dropped. The trickle from the fake notes is done. The notes are now wall paper for the basement utility room.

Consumer confidence is low.

Go figure.

Just don't talk about redistributing that wealth they gained -- BY CHEATING US.

[indio55555]

3. Notice that the market didn't skip a beat?

It's up +226 right now... Tells you what they think of the "main street" folks.

[Hawkowl]

5. Ooooh

These little "market recoveries" are very temporary. Temporary as in days not weeks or months. The stock markets are going to continue to decline to near worthless levels before they start to rise again as hedge funds start honoring their rich customers demands for their monies by liquidating stock holdings, commodities and everything else. Ooooh no, this decline is not over by a long shot. And it won't be over until Main Street starts getting help rather than the parasitic financial speculators. The rethuglicans have forgotten or conned themselves into forgetting that the REAL economy is a pyramid and that if you destroy the base of the working class, there will be nothing to support the pinnacle and the entire pyramid of cards will come crashing down.

The $700 Billion bailout will be an utter fiasco, a tragedy of ancient Greek proportions. simply because it is being administered by Blinded by free market, nonsensical ideology, idiot Rethuglican administrators have no idea what is going on with the meltdown, and are incapable of fixing it. This is history repeating itself in spades. This is exactly what happened to Herbert Hoover. It is grimly, fascinating to me a student of history and economics, to watch the Rethuglicans repeating their mistakes once again.

Obama will truly have to hit the ground running if he is to forestall a full blown decade long Great Depression II. He will need to start the day after his election, and work behind the scenes with his transition team, as well as the Senate to set the tone and stop the Wall Street criminals from a last ditch effort at an unprecedented orgy of looting not seen since the Visigoths sacked Rome.

We are truly teetering on the abyss. The most hopeful analogy that keeps coming into my head is of the Phoenix. Yikes.

[Snazzy]

4. Commentary: Regime change usually follows lows in confidence

MARKETWATCH FIRST TAKE
Consumers shaken by economy
Commentary: Regime change usually follows lows in confidence
By MarketWatch

The implosion of the housing bubble, the weak job market, the bailout of the banks, and the sell-off in the stock markets have put consumers in a sour mood.

The Conference Board reports its consumer confidence index fell to a record low in October. It was the largest one-month decline in the index, which dates back to 1967.

As bad as they think the economy is now, they are convinced it'll get worse. Consumers say their job prospects are weak, their incomes aren't likely to grow, and the prices they pay are likely to soar.

Consumers usually pay more attention to prices at the gas pump than they do to prices on Wall Street. But the good news on gas prices isn't sinking in. Don't consumers know that gas prices have fallen $1.05 in the past month?

Things must be really bad if cheap(er) gas doesn't make us happy.

These same surly people will be heading to the polls in one week, and they'll probably be carrying torches and pitchforks.

....

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Consumers-shaken-economy/story.aspx?guid=%7BC7BC54BF-A17C-4952-B5A3-FFF7C1536FD2%7D

Edit to add: 1967, holy shit!

[Javaman]

6. but hey! the market is waaaaay up!!!

there couldn't be a more obvious disconnect with reality and legalized gambling.

[Earth_First]

7. I don't understand how this relates to the surge in the market today...

Doesn't the market usually perform poorly after such news?

[UpInArms]

8. US consumer confidence slumps to record low in Oct (lowest ever in 41 years)

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence plunged to a record low in October as a worsening financial crisis left Americans anxious about their jobs and pessimistic about future prospects, a report said on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its index measuring consumer sentiment tumbled to 38.0 in October from an upwardly revised 61.4 in September. That was the lowest reading since the index began in 1967. The previous low was 43.2 in December 1974.

The result was well below economists' expectations for a reading of 52.0 and comes after a modest improvement in consumers' mood the prior month. Even the most pessimistic forecast of the 74 economists surveyed by Reuters was 45.0.

"The impact of the financial crisis over the last several weeks has clearly taken a toll on consumers' confidence," the survey quoted Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, as saying.

Franco said consumers' outlook on the labor market and the inflation outlook both deteriorated, "and this news does not bode well for retailers who are already bracing for what is shaping up to be a very challenging holiday season."

Consumers' evaluation of their present situation fell to 41.9, its lowest since December 1992, from an upwardly revised 61.1 in September. A year ago, it stood at 118.0. The expectations subindex plunged to 35.5 from an upwardly revised 61.5 last month and from 80.0 a year ago.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2838740420081028

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How 'bout that 900 point rally in the Dow!

:nuke:

[fascisthunter]

9. Republicans Have Redistributed Wealth to the Wealthy for many Years...

and now this....

Great record you are running on conservatives.... we are still all waiting for your brilliant plan to amount to something positive for average Americans.