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To: Softechie who wrote (62505)	7/26/2002 10:48:28 AM
From: Softechie	Respond to of 208838

Univ Michigan July/Sentiment -2: Hopes For Future Dim 26 Jul 10:09 NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Consumer confidence levels took a heavy hit in July versus June, as expectations for future activity plummeted, according to a report released Friday. The University of Michigan's full-month report on consumer sentiment for the end of July was said to stand at 88.1, up from 86.5 in the middle of the month, but down from 92.4 at the end of June, according to those who have seen the report. The University of Michigan report is released only to subscribers. Still, economists had expected confidence levels to decline by a wider margin. They had forecast that the index would fall to 87.0, and said that consumer confidence levels are increasingly feeling the brunt of the heavy volatility and steep losses the stock market has suffered in recent weeks. The biggest decline came in consumers' assessment of future economic activity, which was what dragged the overall sentiment index down most. That index slid to 81.0 at the end of the month, from 87.5 in mid-July and 87.9 in June. According the Michigan report, consumers' assessment of current economic conditions was essentially flat, with that index at 99.3 at the end of July, compared with 99 in the middle of the month and 99.5 in June. The University of Michigan's confidence index is based on a telephone survey of households, and is released twice monthly. While confidence surveys command considerable attention from financial-market participants, economists regularly note indexes like Michigan's, along with the more the broad-based one from the Conference Board, don't do that great of a job tracking actual changes in patterns of consumer spending, a far more important economic factor. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in recent testimony before Congress, turned a cautious eye toward the various confidence gauges. He said "our interest is in what people do, not what they say" about what they are going to do. -By Michael S. Derby, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-4192; michael.derby@dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 07-26-02 10:09 AM