Americans spooked by worries about jobs, strength of the recovery
NEW YORK — A monthly report on U.S. consumer confidence, released Tuesday, showed a sharp decline in June from May, reversing a three-month climb, as Americans digested a batch of unsettling news that raised new concerns about the economy's health.
The closely-watched U.S. Consumer Confidence Index, released by the Conference Board, a private research group, showed a reading of 52.9 in June from May's 62.7 reading.
The index — which measures how shoppers feel about business conditions, the job market and the next six months — had been recovering fitfully since hitting an all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009.
A reading above 90 indicates the economy is on solid footing; above 100 signals strong growth. Economists watch the number closely because consumer spending including health care and other major items, accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.
Economists had already believed confidence will remain weak for at least another year because of stubbornly high unemployment. But a batch of economic data — from disappointing job figures in May to dismal housing numbers — is increasing worries that the road to recovery could be rockier than anticipated. Amid such concerns, the Dow Jones Industrials has fallen 9.5 percent since late April.
"We're concerned about the strength of the economic recovery from here," said Richard Hastings, macro and consumer strategist with Global Hunter Securities. "That would suggest weaker consumer confidence" for the next few months.
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10 comments:
Consumer confidence will not gain until we have a president of the United States. We have been without one for almost 1.5 years.
11:51 idealogical doofuses like you are why elected leaders don't get anything done. No one wants to govern based off factual analysis; it's all about which animal you want to follow off the cliff, the donkey or the elephant.
My consumer confidence crumbled long before June.
its just not possible to have an economy based on shopping
1:12
You must first have a leader to be a follower. We haven't had one in over a year. Not just the president , but , the congress also.
The one thing that no politician has had the balls to say is that this recession was neither caused by government, nor will it be fixed by government. "Clinton's booming economy" was a sham that can neither be attributed to the republican congress or clinton's office. You can't attribute the current recession to Obama nor will it be his or congress's policies which lead us out. We all have got to hold on until the business cycle recovers.
3:22
Your a dreamer , of course the recession is not obamas fault , his fix is not working and will only prolong the obvious.60% government and 40% private interprise won't get it in this capitalist society.
You guys remember 911? they are going to build a muslim worship center there! Do your homework. I'll hold on to my arms , you hold on to whatever.
Nafta was the beginning of the end economicaly.
Neither Bush or Obama is responsible for this recession, that's true.
However, Obama and the dumbocrats are absolutely responsible for taking a cyclic ressession and making it into a depression with wreckless spending and anti business government policies that are KILLING jobs!
5:53, most economists attribute gov. spending to preventing a depression. Although the "killing jobs" sounds like a great talking point from the right, I haven't seen a single objective analysis that really backs up the statement. And I'm not saying that Dem policies are great, I just would like some decisions based on common sense, not pandering.
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