Consumer confidence dips to lowest point since April
Janice Chamberlain -- Furniture Today, October 3, 2004
New York — The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell 1.9 points in September, dropping to its lowest level since April.
The Index now stands at 96.8 points, compared with 98.7 points in August. The Present Situation Index fell to 95.5 points from 100.7 points last month, while the Expectations Index inched up 0.3 points to 97.6 points.
Looking ahead six months, consumer buying plans for homes and autos were essentially flat with August results. In September, 3.8% of consumers surveyed said they planned a buy a home in the next six months, compared with 3.9% in August.
Meanwhile, 6.4% said they expected to buy a car in September, measured against 6.5% in August.
The other big-ticket item covered by the survey, major appliances, saw a slight uptick in buying plans, with 29.9% of consumers in September planning to purchase in the next six months, compared with 29% in August.
Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said, "The recent declines in the Index were caused primarily by a deterioration in consumers' assessment of employment conditions. Soft labor market conditions clearly have taken a toll on consumer confidence. Still, expectations for the next six months are virtually unchanged from August."
Appraising the current situation, 79.7% of survey participants said business conditions were good or normal in September, compared with 79.8% in August. But only 16.8% said jobs were plentiful in September, while 18.4% thought they were in August.
Geographically, five of the nine regions covered by The Conference Board's survey showed improvement in overall consumer confidence in September compared with August. Leading the way was the Mountain region, up 8.6 points to 114.7 from 106.1 in August.
An eight-point drop in the East South Central region, which fell from 97.9 points in August to 89.9 points in September, offset the gain in the Mountain region.
The Consumer Confidence Index is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The cutoff date for September's preliminary results was Sept. 20.
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