Consumer confidence tumbles
Job worries drive closely watched sentiment gauge to lowest level since October, missing forecasts.
February 24, 2004: 12:02 PM EST
By Mark Gongloff, CNN/Money Staff Writer
money.cnn.com
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer confidence sank in February to its lowest level since last fall, hurt by persistent weakness in the job market, a research group said Tuesday.
The number came in well below forecasts on Wall Street.
The Conference Board, a business research group based in New York, said its closely watched index of consumer confidence fell to 87.3 from a revised 96.4 in January. It was the lowest level since 81.7 in October 2003.
Economists had expected the confidence index, based on a survey of 5,000 households, to fall to 92 from the originally reported 96.8, according to Briefing.com.
"The most important factor [in this survey] is labor market, labor market, labor market," said Anthony Chan, chief economist at Banc One Investment Advisors, who had one of the lowest forecasts for Tuesday's number on Wall Street.
"That's still not up to par, still not what people expected at this point in the recovery," Chan said.
The survey's "expectations" index, measuring consumers' expectations for the future, fell to 96.8 from a revised 107.8 in January. The "present situation" index fell to 73.1 from a revised 79.4.
On Wall Street, the report had little impact on stock prices, which moved off their lows but were little changed in late morning trading. Treasury bond prices continued to rise.
Many on Wall Street were expecting a fairly gloomy report, given the results of earlier confidence surveys by the University of Michigan, ABC and Money magazine, and Investors Business Daily. |
