More Videos
|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- Unemployed? Bored? Make Money Playing Beer Pong
- Social Networking's 'Naked' Truth
- The Highest Grossing (Inflation Adjusted) Movies of All Time
- WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell on the Ad Recession
- Merrill's McCann Seen as UBS Wealth Frontrunner
- Geek Squad V. Gizmodo
- Warren Buffett's Top Three Investment Rules for the Average American
- Why You Should Watch Fund Flows
- Roginsky: No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Stimulus Will Kick in Later this Year: President Obama
- Lender CIT Group Hires Premier Bankruptcy Adviser
- Government Selling Bank Stakes for Too Cheap: Panel
- Buffett's Top 3 Investment Rules for Average Americans
- Market Insider: Earnings Loom in the Week Ahead
- Bulls Get Summertime Blues, But It's Hot Fun for Bears
- As Banks Fail, Strong Institutions Become More Visible
- GM IPO in Second Quarter 2010 at the Earliest: CFO
- Merrill's McCann Seen as UBS Wealth Frontrunner
- Eric Schmidt on Government Scrutiny and Economic Recovery
- Market 360: The Week's Best & Worst
- Geek Squad V. Gizmodo
- Brandt: Google Chrome OS in the Post-PC Age
- Other People Are Weirder Than We Are
- Bank Failures: Is The Nightmare Over? (Video)
- California Here I Go? No.
- Roginsky: No More Mr. Nice Guy
- Commercial Conundrum
Text Size 
U.S. consumer sentiment dropped to a 16-year low in February, hitting levels that
usually sound the alarm bells of recession, on worries about declining incomes and rising unemployment, a survey showed Friday.
Adding to the grim view, consumers' expectations for the future also hit a 16-year low while worries about their ability to makes ends meet and the overall economy were as bad as they
have been in decades, the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said.
The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its main index of consumer sentiment fell to a 16-year low of 70.8 in February from 78.4 in January.
This was the final reading for February and was the lowest since February 1992. It was up slightly from the preliminary February result reported earlier in the month of 69.6, which
also would have been the lowest reading since February 1992.
"Consumer confidence remained at the same low level that was recorded during the recession periods of the mid-1970s, the early 1980s and the early 1990s," the Reuters/University of
Michigan Surveys of Consumers said in a statement.
"The minuscule gain from the mid-month reading did not alter the basic fact that the extent of the recent decline has consistently been associated with a subsequent recession period," it added.
Wall Street economists had expected a reading of 70.0, according to a Reuters poll. The 57 estimates ranged from 67.8 to 78.0.
The Index of consumer expectations dived to 62.4 -- also its lowest in 16 years -- from 68.1 at the end of January.
"Expectations for personal finances as well as for the entire economy are now as pessimistic as any time during the past quarter century," they said in a statement.
The index of current economic conditions also fell to a 16-year low of 83.8 in February from 94.4 in January.
One-year inflation expectations jumped to 3.6 percent from 3.4 percent in January. Five-year inflation expectations remained steady at 3.0 percent.
Print
Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes