Consumer confidence slips; home-buying plans also dip
Janice Chamberlain -- Furniture Today, April 10, 2005
New York — For the first time since October, The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index in March posted an overall drop plus declines in both its components, the Present Situation Index and the Expectations Index.
The overall Index now stands at 102.4 points, off two points from February. The Present Situation Index slipped to 115.6 points in March from February's 116.8 points, and the Expectations Index fell to 93.7 points from the 96.1 points recorded a month earlier.
Home-buying plans also slipped in March, with 3.7% of consumers planning to buy a home in the six next months compared with 4.1% in February.
Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said, "Consumers are still quite confident despite recent increases in unemployment claims and rising prices at the gas pumps. Their overall assessment of current economic conditions remains favorable and their short-term outlook suggests little change in the months ahead.
"In fact, while expectations have lost ground, consumers anticipate the job market will continue to improve, and easing employment concerns should help keep spending on track."
Appraising the current situation, 84% of survey participants said business conditions were good or normal in March, compared with 84.3% in February. In March, 21.3% of them said jobs were plentiful, measured against 21.2% in February.
The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households.
The cutoff date for March's preliminary results was March 23.
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