Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Consumer Confidence at Lowest Point in 16 Years

Is there any doubt that we are in a full fledged recession?

An industry group says U.S. consumer confidence fell unexpectedly sharply in June, sinking to the fifth-lowest level ever.

The report Tuesday also said the group’s reading of consumers’ expectations hit an all-time low.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 50.4 this month, down from 58.1 in May. The reading is far lower than economists expected; the consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR was 56.5.

A major factor in the economic crises has to be the bursting of the housing bubble.
U.S. home prices posted record declines in April, extending a painful losing streak for U.S. home prices.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index fell to a record low of 15.3% on a year-over-year basis, and was down 1.4% from March. The 10-city index was down 16.3% year-over-year and 1.6% for the month.

The 20-city index is based on data going back 19 years, while the 10-city index is 21 years old.

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