Americans remain gloomy about the economy
NEW YORK (AP) - July 29, 2008 Their outlook has brightened a bit, even though they remain the
most gloomy about the current economy that they have been in 16
years, a private research group said Tuesday.
The New York-based Conference Board said that its Consumer
Confidence Index stands at 51.9 for July - half of what it was a
year ago - but the reading was slightly higher than the revised
51.0 in June and a bit better than the reading of 50 predicted by
economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR. The improvement, albeit slight,
also reverses a six-month slide since February.
The Expectations Index, which measures shoppers' outlook over
the next six months, increased a bit to 43.0 from 41.4. The Present
Situation Index, which measures their current assessment of the
economy, was virtually flat at 65.3, compared to 65.4 in June.
"Consumers' assessment of current conditions was little
changed, suggesting there has been no significant improvement, nor
significant deterioration, in business or labor market
conditions," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board
Consumer Research Center, in a statement.
She added, however, that while consumers remain grim about
short-term prospects, the modest improvement in their outlook
provides some glimmer of hope. The slight improvement in the
outlook "bears careful watching over the next few months," she
said.
Economists closely monitor sentiment as consumer spending
represents about two-thirds of all economic activity. The reading
comes as the nation's retailers are entering the critical
back-to-school season, the most important period behind the holiday
season.
Stocks rose Tuesday, rebounding a day after a big tumble, on the
improving confidence. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 111.45,
or 1.04 percent to 11,246.53 in midmorning trading.
But there was more bad news about housing Tuesday. The
S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city index fell 15.8 percent in May from a year
earlier, the sharpest drop since its inception in 2000. The
narrower 10-city index was down 16.9 percent, its biggest drop in
its 21-year history.
And the Consumer Confidence report - derived from responses
received through July 22 of a representative sample of 5,000 U.S.
households - showed that consumers' worries about business
conditions and jobs aren't going away.
Those saying jobs are "hard to get" edged up to 30.3 percent
from 29.7 percent in June, while those claiming jobs are
"plentiful" declined to 13.5 percent from 14.1 percent.
Consumers' outlook, while slightly improving from last month,
continues to be grim.
Those anticipating business conditions to worsen over the next
six months did ease a bit to 32.4 percent from 33.5 percent, while
those expecting conditions to improve edged up to 9.3 percent from
8.5 percent in June. But the percent of consumers expecting fewer
jobs in the months ahead increased to 37.1 percent from 35.7
percent, while those anticipating more jobs remained virtually
unchanged at 8.2 percent.
Another worry is a slowing job market, because job security is
key to consumers' willingness to spend. Cautious employers,
uncertain about the economy and their own sales prospects, have cut
jobs each month so far this year. Economists are bracing for more
job losses when the government releases the employment report for
July on Friday.
Economists expect payrolls to drop by 72,000 in July, which
would mark deeper cuts than the 62,000 logged in June. The
unemployment rate, now at 5.5 percent, probably will climb to 5.6
percent. The jobless rate is expected to keep moving higher this
year and next, hitting 6 percent or more early next year.
The Consumer Confidence survey has a margin of error of plus or
minus 2.5 percentage points.