Consumer Sentiment in U.S. Fell in October to Nine-Month Low
Source: Bloomberg
By Ben Schenkel - Oct 11, 2013
Consumer sentiment in the U.S. fell in October to a nine-month low as the government’s partial shutdown and the debt-ceiling debate caused outlooks to sour.
The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index of decreased to 75.2 this month from 77.5 in September. Economists in a Bloomberg survey projected a drop to 75.3, according to the median estimate.
Households are becoming pessimistic about the economy as the shutdown heads into a third week and the deadline looms for raising the debt limit and avoiding a default. Nonetheless, rising wealth, lower gasoline prices and a resilient job market are preventing confidence from slipping even more, indicating the economy can bounce back once lawmakers reach a compromise.
“Confidence is down a bit given the shenanigans in Washington,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, and the top-ranked sentiment forecaster over the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The labor market has been improving, and hopefully this degree of turmoil in Washington is just temporary.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-11/michigan-consumer-sentiment-index-falls-to-75-2-from-77-5.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
