Consumer confidence falls to 5-year low on energy, food price concerns

Posted Apr 29th 2008 12:15PM by Joseph Lazzaro
Filed under: Forecasts, Bad News, Employees, Recession

U.S. consumer confidence declined in April 2008, as consumers continued to express concern over rising food and energy costs, which are boosting retail inflation and lowering disposable income.

U.S. consumer confidence fell in April 2008 to 62.3 from a revised 65.9 in March 2008, the Conference Board announced Tuesday. It was the index's lowest reading since 2003.

Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected the index to drop to 62.0 in April 2008. In February 2008, the index stood at 76.4.

The board said consumers' evaluation of present-day conditions weakened further in April 2008. Those claiming business conditions are "bad" increased to 26.7% from 25.5%, while those claiming business conditions are "good" dipped slightly, to 15.3 from 15.6%.

Consumers' assessment of the job market was considerably more pessimistic than last month. Those saying jobs are "hard to get" rose to 27.9% from 24.65, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 16.6% from 19.2%.

Ongoing concerns

Economist Glen Langan told BloggingStocks Tuesday the latest consumer confidence reading indicates consumers are in-tune with the sluggish-to-difficult economic conditions the nation is experiencing. "All of the factors that we've discussed over the past six months, stagnant wages for many, high energy prices, food prices marching up, and the worst housing market in a generation, are weighing on the consumer and this is reflected in the low confidence statistic," Langan said. "There is a legitimate concern among adults that the nation's economy will worsen in the months ahead, and it's not an unreasonable concern."

Langan said it will take "a series of positive data points" on job growth, housing and consumer prices over months to turn consumer attitudes around, and the nation "is a long way from that recovery stage, at this juncture."

Further, the board said consumers' short-term expectations continued to deteriorate in April 2008. Consumers expecting business conditions to worsen over the next six months increased to 27.0% from 26.0%.

In addition, the outlook for the labor market was also significantly more pessimistic, the board said. Those expecting fewer jobs in the months ahead surged to 32.8% from 29.3%.

The Consumer Confidence Index is based on a representative sample of 5,000 households.

Tags: consumer confidence, energy prices, featured, food prices, housing, inflation, The Conference Board, U.S. economy

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-29-2008 @ 1:25PM

Petkov said...

Strange, in this "bad" times, the oil companies report record profits.
$17B IN 3 MONTHS; RECORD PROFITS FOR OIL COMPANIES
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080429/earns_oil.html?.v=2

I guess it's bad times for the average folks who are being taken to the cleaners eh?
I just watched Bush Jr's Rose garden and he is blaming the Congress again for failing to pass legislations and for not making the tax cuts permanent. Love his audacity.
When will the "sheep finally look up"? Probably never.

4-29-2008 @ 1:38PM

B. Harrison said...

Well, for those who do not realize it, the U.S. is JUST BEGINNING to feel the impact of this economic debacle . . . esp. in the construction industry. There will have to be massive bankruptcies in order to readjust the pricing of the condo/housing units that have been constructed and are in the process of being constructed. This is going to be an unavoidable complex process that will result in the bankrupties of MANY contractors, suppliers, vendors, and manufacturers which will result in the unemployment of untold numbers of Americans.

This will REALLY reveal the true impact of what has been done by thei irresponsible actions of the financial corporations and our government failure to address these issues . . . just remember the ENTIRE subprime mortgage loan debacle could have been easily PRVENTED by the Fed issuing some simple "common sense" regulations requiring that all loan applicants be fully qualified. Yes the leel of construction would have been significantly less; but we would not be in the current disaster that we are in.

4-29-2008 @ 1:48PM

B. Harrison said...

The only way that I can view it is that Bush must ACTUALLY be the front man for the wealthy elitists special interests groups. The man is TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS to the plight of the American people or the economy.

Rember just a month or so ago how George was loudly proclaiming that "the U.S. can AFFORD IT ALL. . ." remember that? Everything that George Bush has touched has become a debacle. His presidency has been progresive series of one debacle after another; and he has stood lthere and lied about it all. Surely theman could not be that isolated and "blind" to it all. Did he think that "his saying it" would make it come true . . . esp. AFTER seven years of the fiasco of his presidency?

Hi illicit andunwarranted was against iraq which was supposed to have cost a maximum of $60 Billion has now cost over $640 BILLION and escalating at $12 Billion a month.

What type of a "fairy tale land" does George bush exist in? It certainly is not the reality of our national economy. How canANY President be so out of touch with reality? Or is he that big of a liar and he thinks that the American people are STUPID ENOUGH TO BELIEVE HIM?

The man should be impeached in his last week in office to brand him for what he is. he has done more damage to the USA than ANY of the terroristsgroups could have EVER accomplished.

Remember when he was taking credit for the "economic boom" that we were "enjoying"? And now he is blaming the debacle on everyone else. it's no wonder that Karl Rove deserted him . . . Karl is a savvy guy, he wan'st going to hang in there for the collapse of it all . . . the rats leaving the sinking ship.

4-29-2008 @ 2:47PM

william lindblad said...

I agree with Mr. Harrison on his 1st post but to point the finger at Bushy on the 2nd for all of it - no. Georgie depends on the advice of others and they are proving to be a rather worthless bunch. I also think that Iraq could have been avoided, but that is also a big maybe. Going back to the first, yup you right, but there is a great deal more. Along with what was mentioned we ALSO have water supply problems, food costs and health care - and that is only what we are presently aware of. I started called this a DIM for depression in making at least a month ago. I have not changed my opinion, although I wish to.