Economy
Consumer Confidence Tanked in February When It Was Supposed to Rise
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The Conference Board has released its Consumer Confidence Index for February, and the news is not good. After increasing to 79.4 in January, the reading fell to 78.1 in February. Bloomberg was actually looking for a slight uptick, with a consensus estimate at 80.1, and the range was 78.0 to 82.0 for comparison.
The decline was shown to be most dominated by the Expectations Index, as it fell from 80.8 in January to 75.7 in February. A slight contrast is that the Present Situation Index gained from 77.3 in January to 81.7 in February.
In short, confidence fell when it was supposed to rise. It was also almost as bad as the worst estimate of all economists.
Tuesday’s weak report was blamed on a concern over the short-term outlook for business conditions, jobs and earnings. The Present Situation Index ironically is at its highest level in almost six years (April 2008). Unfortunately, they also do not foresee the economy gaining considerable momentum in the months ahead.
Here were some data points:
Stocks remain directionless so far on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 Index down 1.54 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average down about four points. Just keep in mind that the S&P 500 hit a new all-time again on Monday.
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