Consumer confidence continues slide in Sept.
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, September 29, 2002
New York — The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index continued its four-month slide in September, slipping 1.2 points from August.
The Present Situation Index dropped to 88.5 from 93.1, while the Expectations Index rose slightly to 96.5 from 95.5.
Looking ahead six months, fewer consumers are planning to buy big-ticket items.
In August, 4.5% of those surveyed planned to buy a new home in the next six months.
In September, just 3.3% planned to purchase a new residence, equaling the 13-month low for home-buying plans set last November.
Those planning to buy major appliances in the next six months dropped from 31.3% in August to 25.8% in September, and 6.8% of respondents planned to buy a car in September, off from August's 7.4%. Both September figures set new 13-month lows.
Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said, "Weak labor market conditions continue to erode confidence. But while consumers are not as positive about current business conditions, they are more optimistic about the outlook than last month. Historically, this trend is prevalent during a recovery."
While consumers may have changed their plans to buy large items in the next six months, their overall view of business conditions improved from August to September, with 90.4% saying business conditions would be the same or better, compared with 90% in August.
Nearly 91% of September respondents said they expected their income in six months would increase or stay the same, compared with about 90% in August. In September, 82.7% said that in six months, there would be more or the same number of jobs, compared with 82.2% in August.
The index is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households.
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