Another debt ceiling debacle could sink the economy
Last year's Congressional debt standoff hurt consumer confidence more than the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Betsey Johnson and Justin Wolfers write. This time could be worse. Read more at Counterparties
Consumer confidence unexpectedly falls in Dec.
A woman carries shopping bags along a sidewalk in New York City, December 6, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar
NEW YORK |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in December, hurt by increasing worries about the jobs market, according to a private report released on Tuesday.
The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes slipped to 52.5 in December from an upwardly revised 54.3 in November.
The median of forecasts from analysts polled by Reuters was for a reading of 56.0.
The expectations index declined to 71.9 in December from 73.6 in November.
The present situation index fell to 23.5 from 25.4.
Consumers' labor market assessment worsened. The "jobs hard to get" index rose to 46.8 percent in December from 46.3 percent last month, while the "jobs plentiful" index dropped to 3.9 percent from 4.3 percent.
(Reporting by Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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I’d thought I understood it at one time, but it keeps appearing in economic news that many, many among us had accurately predicted.
Either the word doesn’t mean what I think it means, or we need to get new “experts” for such reporting…
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