Since everyone is eating
Posted By: out and shopping - sm on 2005-09-27
In Reply to: Sorry, but if you are... - SM
and you can't find a place to park, can you explain this: 57% disapprove of Bush's handling of the economy? Oh, no, people aren't struggling.
The Associated Press/NEW YORK
By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
AP Business Writer
Consumer confidence sinks in September
SEP. 27 4:27 P.M. ET Consumer confidence suffered its biggest drop in 15 years in September as Hurricane Katrina made Americans anxious about the rising costs of heating their homes and filling their gas tanks. The decline raised questions about consumer spending for the rest of this year, including the holiday shopping season.
Meanwhile, the government reported Tuesday that new home sales plunged in August by the largest amount in nine months, continuing a string of mixed signals about the health of the housing boom.
The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index, compiled from a survey of U.S. households, dropped 18.9 points to 86.6 from a revised reading of 105.5 in August.
That marked the biggest slide since October 1990, when the index fell 23 points to 62.6 amid the onset of the recession, the buildup to the first Gulf war and a spike in gasoline prices. The September reading was also the lowest level since October 2003, when it registered 81.7.
Analysts had expected the September reading to be 98.
Wall Street took the news of both reports fairly well. The Dow Jones industrial average, up about 30 points before the index was released, fell into negative territory but was only marginally lower.
The Commerce Department said new home sales fell 9.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million units. Even with the slowdown, the median sales price rose 2.5 percent from July's level to $220,300. The bigger-than-projected drop in new home sales could signal that the nation's red-hot housing market is starting to slow down, but reports so far are mixed.
In Washington, Republicans were assessing the political impact of the numbers, particularly the drop in consumer confidence, saying it gives them more reason to worry about next year's elections.
These are serious numbers, said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a political operative-turned-congressman, referring to the consumer confidence figures. The question is whether this is a trend or a reaction to Katrina and Rita.
Cole said he suspects the public's mood will improve by this time next year when Republicans, who control Congress and the White House, will face the judgment of an uneasy electorate. But in the intervening months, he said, the political consequences of consumer anxiety are real serious.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Republicans are on the defensive. Any time our approval ratings go down we have problems. That's why we're working on Katrina. That's why we're working on Rita, he said.
The latest AP-Ipsos Poll, conducted Sept. 6-8, showed more Americans are uneasy about President Bush's handling of the economy. The poll found that 41 percent of respondents approved the president's handling of the economy, while 57 percent disapproved and 1 percent were not sure. That rating is the lowest since January 2002, when Ipsos began tracking Bush's approval ratings.
The drop in consumer confidence, which followed an unexpected gain in August, also raised concerns about shoppers' ability to spend in the critical fall and holiday seasons with gas prices expected to remain at $3 per gallon. That's due to tight supplies and the fact it may take weeks to restart refineries that closed due to Hurricane Rita.
Even before Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, consumers were struggling to fit higher gasoline prices into their budgets, with that strain showing up in August's modest retail sales gains. Sales have been disappointing again this month, and analysts are concerned that consumers will further retrench when they start paying home heating bills.
Economists closely track consumer confidence because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all U.S. economic activity.
Today's numbers show that consumers are not very optimistic about the economy. As a result, we will see consumer spending reduced until we see some relief on energy prices, said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons. He added, If we don't get some relief, it looks like it will be a very weak holiday season.
Thayer wasn't as concerned about home sales report, saying the sector was due for a cooling off. However, he doesn't think the housing market is headed for a bust.
Scott Hoyt, director of consumer economics, at Economy.com, was more upbeat about consumers, warning against reading too much into September's confidence figures. He noted that the key fundamentals for spending -- employment and income -- are holding up.
We need to be careful not to overstate the potential (of consumer confidence) on consumer spending, he said.
While there have been job losses along the Gulf Coast as a result of Katrina's fallout, economists predict overall healthy job gains of 169,000 when the Labor Department reports its figures Oct. 7.
Still, how fast consumer sentiment will rebound to the 100 reading seen over the past year remains to be seen.
Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, noted that as rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of Katrina take hold and job growth gains momentum, confidence should return to more positive levels by year-end or early 2006.
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AP Political Writer Ron Fournier in Washington contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
http://www.conferenceboard.org
Commerce Department: http://www.doc.gov
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8CSQMEG0.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db
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Nothing's eating at me
I'm just having fun watching the wacky reactions of an unhinged leftist. It's kind of like watching a nature show...entertaining.
He IS EATING IT UP!
He loves making his speeches and being in the center of attention. He is a ME, ME, ME.
crow eating
that was me :-P lol
I hope you didn't take it offensively!
Crow eating s/m
Well, may as well start cooking up the crow. When Obama appoints Hillary SOS I'll start eating. HOWEVER, I still maintain that McCain would also have been more of the same. I fear we're under Bush/Clinton dictatorship and any "change" Obama makes is likely to be just to carry on their agenda which is to sell out American IMHO. Maybe we'd all better develop a taste for real crow as that may be all that's left for us to eat.
Sorry you don't like eating your words
You said that God takes life because the the person made the wrong choices. Obviously, that bike you ride doesn't pedal as comfortably backwards, does it?
Well we were talking about eating and manners. sm
At least I was.
the snack you can't stop eating
slime
I hope that in 4 years you will be eating your words. nm
.
Turkeys are for eating. Embryos and fetuses are
for loving, growing, giving birth to, nurturing, seeing smile for the first time, seeing walk for the first time, celebrating birthday parties with, chasing butterflies with, reading books to, hugging and kissing daily, taking to preschool, graduating kindergarten, running with friends on the playground, learning and developing opinions, going to camp with, fishing with, swimming with, sledding with, snowball fighting with, celebrating report cards with, taking to his/her first dance, first kiss, first date, surviving high school with, graduation, college/military/vocation, finding that special someone, landing a great job, getting married themselves, having more babies to continue that love......
It's called the next generation.
I suppose that you personally "know" he's eating it up. Get real!
Geez, I guess if negativity were wealth, you people must be stinkin' rich. LOL
You're still eating aren't you? Lets pick this back
Or maybe you know enoug folks that will be getting the free handouts and can live off of them, like I see going on around my town already.
Number one, less peole SHOULD eat at McDonalds, some of the most unhealthy eating habits...sm
of this country, contributing to the obesity problem and the rising cost of healthcare. Come on, EVERYONE deserves an honest living wage where they can feed, clothe, and house their families, and that is just not happening, in the NorthEast I see it every day, most families are working two or three jobs, really good for the children and marriages, I respectfully think that is Bull (which it tastes like McDonald's and other fast food places put in their burgers). JMHO
So now with my taxed insuring kids -- I can supervise their lifestyle, eating habits, etc.
Insurance premiums for kids only are not that expensive, adults can go without if they want their children to have insurance. Why should I pay for that. So now, if my tax dollars are going for that, can I go up to an overweight kid and start monitoring their diet, can I watch what they eat, make sure that they get enough exercise, not be exposed to second hand smoke, etc. Because if the government starts to provide everything for these kids, pretty soon they will be telling everyone what to feed, how to exercise, and everything else. Why don't we just hand over our paychecks to the government and they can just take care of us.
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