The U.S. consumer confidence fell for the second month as retail and gas prices remained high.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index hit 100.2 in November, down from 102.2 in October:
“Consumer confidence declined again in November, most likely prompted by the recent rise in gas prices,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “The Present Situation Index moderated further and continues to suggest the economy has lost momentum as the year winds down. Consumers’ expectations regarding the short-term outlook remained gloomy. Indeed, the Expectations Index is below a reading of 80, which suggests the likelihood of a recession remains elevated.”“Inflation expectations increased to their highest level since July, with both gas and food prices as the main culprits. Intentions to purchase homes, automobiles, and big-ticket appliances all cooled. The combination of inflation and interest rate hikes will continue to pose challenges to confidence and economic growth into early 2023.”
November’s number is the lowest since July, which came in at 97.5.
Consumers showed mixed feelings regarding present business conditions. 18.2% rated business conditions as good, but 26.7% of them described the conditions as bad.
45.8% of the consumers praised the labor market.
However, consumers do not have positive feelings for the future:
Consumers remain pessimistic about the short-term business conditions outlook in November.
- 19.9% of consumers expect business conditions to improve, up slightly from 19.6%.
- 22.7% expect business conditions to worsen, down from 24.3%.
Consumers were more downbeat about the short-term labor market outlook.
- 18.6% of consumers expect more jobs to be available, down from 19.5%.
- 21.4% anticipate fewer jobs, up from 20.8%.
Consumers were also more pessimistic about their short-term income prospects.
- 17.2% of consumers expect their incomes to increase, down from 19.6%.
- 16.6% expect their incomes will decrease, up from 15.2%.
Most of the consumers whose confidence declined are in the 55+ age group and those who make below $50,000 a year.
However, Cyber Monday hit a record high, bringing in $11.3 billion, making it “the biggest online shopping day of all time.”
From Fox Business:
In recognizing the “softening consumer spending environment,” retailers focused heavily on discounting in order to drive demand, according to Adobe Digital Insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya.”It spurred online spending to levels that were higher than expected, and reinforced e-commerce as a major channel to drive volume and capture consumer interest,” Pandya said.In the peak hour Monday, shoppers collectively spent $12.8 million per minute. However, the high spending figure was largely driven by the toy category where online sales surged 684% compared to an average day last month.It was also driven by the demand for electronics and computers, with the categories seeing a 391% and 372% increase, respectively, according to Adobe. Sporting goods, appliances, books and jewelry also saw strong demand, the data showed.
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