Consumer Confidence Hits 7-Month Low

[jefferson_dem]

WASHINGTON - Consumer confidence sank to a seven-month low as sticker shock from rising gasoline prices made Americans anxious about the economy's prospects and the strain on their own budgets.

The RBC CASH Index, based on results from the international polling firm Ipsos, showed confidence at 67.1 in early May. That marked a big deterioration from 89.4 in April.

The new confidence reading was the lowest since October, when the country was still reeling from the devastation and fallout wrought by the Gulf Coast hurricanes, including high energy prices.

<SNIP>

"People think, `Oh my God, I'm paying $3 a gallon now.' Then when they look out into the future and they think it may be $4 a gallon. It is particularly depressing," said Bill Cheney, chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060505/ap_on_bi_ge/ipsos_consumer_confidence_3

[spinbaby]

1. Wait a minute...

Wasn't consumer confidence at an all time high just last week?

[corporatemedia]

3. That was the Conference Board measurement of

consumer confidence

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


There is also the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index:

https://www.economy.com/home/login/ds_proLogin.asp?script_name=/dismal/pro/release.asp&r=usa_csent

[leesa]

5. Monday. Big article that it was the highest it had been in years.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Can't be. This is a "booming economy"

The problem is, people are making so much money with their good paying jobs that they're all saving up for that new SUV and McMansion.

And Ipsos is one of those "fact-based" organizations. You can't trust them.

[AnneD]

6. Reality...

has a liberal bias...

[Grateful for Hope]

4. No matter how they try to spin it

people are the most likely to "wake up" when it hits them in the wallet.