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Consumer Confidence Falls to Record Low

Consumer confidence hit a record low in January as the protracted housing slump and worsening job prospects raised the anxiety levels of Americans. The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 37.7 from a revised 38.6 in December. "Consumers remain quite pessimistic about the state of the economy," said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Research Center. "Until we begin to see considerable improvements in the expectations index, we can't say the worst of times are behind us." In January, the expectations index (which measures consumer expectations about the economy for the next several months) dropped to 43.0 from 44.2 in December. On a positive note, the number of respondents to the Conference Board's survey who said jobs were hard to get, edged down from the prior month. However, the number of consumers expecting their incomes to rise declined to 10% from 12.7% the previous month.

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Date Last Updated: 01/28/2009