Consumer Confidence Increases in July

[SaveElmer]

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4914387.html

I have a feeling that will drop like a rock next month after this months job figures sink in

[David Dunham]

1. This survey looks bogus any way.

[jayfish]

2. Lagging Indicator. -NT-

Jay

[BillZBubb]

3. I guess the corporate media brainwashing was working.

"The economy is booming, pass it on"
"The economy is booming, pass it on"
etc.

Once people see this month's 401K reports, read about the job numbers, and fill up on gas, maybe consumers will wake up to the scam.

[VolcanoJen]

4. Bush, today: "The economy is strong, and getting stronger!"

In other developments, black is now white, and the sky is now the ground.

[sandnsea]

5. Consumer Confidence Index

It was 140 back in 2000, 106 in July. It also seems to be a bit contradictory, maybe reflecting retail sales. Walmart sales are down, Neiman Marcus sales are up. Business conditions are flat, more people say jobs are hard to find than not. Yet a small percentage say everything's rosy. Hmmm. Wonder where they shop.

"Consumers’ assessment of current conditions was somewhat mixed, but favorable overall. Those saying business conditions are “good” was relatively flat, at 25.6 percent compared to 25.8 percent last month. Those claiming conditions are “bad,” however, edged up to 19.1 percent from 17.4 percent. Those saying jobs are “plentiful” rose to 19.8 percent from 18.3 percent. Consumers claiming jobs are “hard to get” was virtually unchanged at 26.0 percent, compared to 26.2 percent in June."

Consumers’ expectations for the next six months are also somewhat mixed, but more optimistic than last month. Those anticipating conditions to worsen declined to 7.0 percent from 9.1 percent. Consumers expecting business conditions to improve remained relatively unchanged, 23.2 percent versus 23.5 percent in June.

Caution Ahead?

The employment outlook remains optimistic. Consumers expecting fewer jobs declined to 13.1 percent from 16.8 percent. But those anticipating more jobs to become available eased to 19.4 percent from 19.9 percent. Also, the proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to rise over the next six months declined to 18.1 percent from 19.7 percent last month."

http://www.conference-board.org/economics/consumerconfidence.cfm

[Veggie Meathead]

6. I think consumer confidence is up because

retail sales are down and people are keeping what little money they have instead of spending it!I hope they keep doing it until John Kerry gets elected!

[sandnsea]

7. Whistling in the dark

That's all that's going on here. In the winter, retail sales were up for high-end and low-end. People couldn't afford to go to the Gap or JCPenney so they went to Walmart. Now, people can't even afford to go to Walmart. But the news keeps saying the economy is up. Brainwashed, wishful thinking, that's all. Watch these numbers plummet when the jobs report gets out.