Following word that home prices continued to fall last fall as noted here earlier today, news comes from the Conference Board that consumer confidence declined for the first time in three months, down from an upwardly revised 64.8 in December to 61.1 in January.
Importantly, this is the first major gauge of the mood of the consumer to reverse course in recent months as, apparently, those holiday credit card bills have begun to take a toll.

Recall that a surprising surge in credit card usage during the fourth quarter was credited with driving holiday sales higher and, now that those November and December charges are starting to show up in mailboxes in January, the mood is not quite as festive.
Well, gasoline prices starting to rise again doesn’t help either…
The present situation component nearly reversed last month’s gain, falling more than 8 points to 38.4, while the expectations component also declined, from 77.0 in December to 76.2 in January. One-year inflation expectations rose from 5.3 percent to 5.5 percent, in stark contrast to Fed Chief Ben Bernanke’s claim that inflation is too low.











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