Consumer Confidence Index Falls More Than Predicted

[TexasLawyer]

Consumer Confidence Index Falls More Than Predicted

NYT
Published: March 28, 2007

Rising gasoline prices and stock market turbulence undermined consumer confidence in March, a widely watched index showed yesterday. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index fell to 107.2, from the revised 111.2 in February. Analysts had expected a reading of 109. The March index was the lowest since November 2006, when the reading was 105.3.

“Apprehension about the short-term future has suddenly cast a cloud over consumers’ confidence,” Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.

“The recent turmoil in financial markets coupled with the run-up in gasoline prices may have contributed to consumers’ heightened sense of uncertainty and concern,” she added. “The direction of both components over the next few months bears watching to determine whether this decline is just a bump in the road or something more substantial.”

Economists closely monitor consumer confidence because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity.

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/business/28econ.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

[Cobalt-60]

1. didn't a republicon once claim they didn't need consumers

to power the economy?