Consumer confidence dropped to a seven-month low in September as the Delta variant brought a spike in COVID cases. With no shortage of other factors to blame, such as wildfires, war, hurricanes and a border crisis, we see room for improvement in coming months. One silver lining: the share of consumers seeing jobs as plentiful rose to the highest level on record. Present Situation, Expectations and Confidence All Decline Consumer confidence fell to 109.3 from 115.2; that puts confidence at a seven-month low as COVID cases continued to pile up during September. A strong labor market might be the only thing giving consumers much cheer these days amid an onslaught of negative news. Notably, despite the declines in overall confidence, expectations and the present situation indices, the share of consumers saying that jobs are plentiful rose to its highest level on record. In figures going back to the 1960s, there has never been a greater consensus among consumers that jobs are plentiful at the moment. READ FULL ARTICLE>>
