Well this was somewhat of a surprise due to all the rhetoric surrounding consumer spending going up, consumer confidence has gone down in the month of December. The CB Consumer Confidence Index is the level of a composite index based on surveyed households ( is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households) and is considered to be a leading indicator of consumer confidence. Uh Oh, somebody should have told the retailers that. The forecast for the CBCC Index called for an index of 56.2, but the actual headline number was 52.5. Lynn Franco, Director of the Consumer Research said:
"Despite this month's modest decline, consumer confidence is no worse off today than it was a year ago. Consumers' assessment of the current state of the economy and labor market remains tepid, and their outlook remains cautious. Thus, all signs continue to suggest that the economic expansion will continue well into 2011, but that the pace of growth will remain moderate."
Wow, well a year ago everybody's expectations were pretty much in the toilet and with retail sales reported to be "better than its been in years" how do these two correlate. Well we know that their is a correlation between retail sales and consumer spending (consumers have to spend to make retailers sales go up), normally consumers spend when they feel things are growing positive (consumer confidence), not negative. Well, perhaps retailers did well due to recession fatigue and consumers just gave in, but I am still asking around and keeping my eye out and I don't see more shoppers than last year, I see less. Perhaps online sales surpassed "brick and motar" sales (definite possibility). It does leave me wondering though.
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