Talking Points …
- The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index dropped to a level of 97.6 in October following September’s optimistic assessment of 102.6.
- In October, consumers were less optimistic about both the present situation and the short-term outlook. Particularly, consumers reported that the present jobs were not so plentiful and the present business conditions were “bad.”
- However, despite this monthly decline, confidence has been trending up and remains relatively high by historical standards. Also, 62.7 percent of respondents reported they expect interest rates to be higher in the upcoming twelve months.