Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Today's economic data

This is really last night's econ data, but the ABC/Money consumer confidence index fell in the most recent week.

This isn't the most reliable indicator of consumer confidence, by any stretch, but it's got a bigger sample size (1,000 respondents) than the University of Michigan survey (500 respondents), which gets a lot more attention on Wall Street.

The Conference Board measure is more reliable (5,000 respondents), but it won't get here until the end of the month. In the meantime, we have to rely on these data.

This week's ABC/Money number is only one data point. Confirmation from the Michigan number, due on Friday, would not be a good sign.

Oh, and oil prices are still near $45 a barrel.

And mortgage applications are down, despite a drop in rates.

Yesiree, looks like an economy set to take off, just like Uncle Alan says.

No comments: