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Consumer Confidence Dips In September

Current conditions cause for concern

By James Limbach
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 29, 2009
A reversal of fortune for the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index in September.

After improving in August, the index declined to 53.1 from 54.5 in August. The dip was led by the Present Situation Index, which decreased to 22.7 from 25.4. The Expectations Index also dropped -- to 73.3 from 73.8 in August.

"The Present Situation Index decreased, as consumers viewed both current business conditions and the labor market less favorably than last month," said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "While not as pessimistic as earlier this year, consumers remain quite apprehensive about the short-term outlook and their incomes. With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is not very encouraging news."

Consumers' assessment of current conditions was less favorable in September. Those claiming business conditions are "bad" rose to 46.3 percent from 44.6 percent, while those claiming conditions are "good" inched ahead to 8.7 percent from 8.5 percent.

Consumers' appraisal of the job market was less favorable. Those claiming jobs are "hard to get" increased to 47.0 percent from 44.3 percent, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" fell to 3.4 percent from 4.3 percent.

Consumers' short-term outlook was also slightly more pessimistic. Those anticipating an improvement in business conditions over the next six months decreased to 21.3 percent from 22.2 percent, while those expecting conditions to worsen decreased to 15.0 percent from 15.2 percent.

The labor market outlook was virtually unchanged. Those expecting more jobs in the months ahead edged down to 17.9 percent from 18.0 percent, while those expecting fewer jobs held steady at 23.1 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes increased slightly to 11.2 percent from 10.8 percent.

The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS, the world's largest custom research company. The cutoff date for September's preliminary results was September 22nd.

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