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Consumer Sentiment
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Released on 6/27/08 For Jun 2008 Sentiment Index - Level
Consensus 56.9 *Actual* *56.4 * 2008 Release Schedule *Released On:*
2/1<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/02/index.html>
2/29<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/02/index.html>
3/28<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/03/index.html>
4/25<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/04/index.html>
5/30<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/05/index.html>
6/27<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/06/index.html>
7/25<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/07/index.html>
8/29<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/08/index.html>
9/26<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/09/index.html>
10/31<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/10/index.html>
11/26<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/11/index.html>
12/23<http://www.econoday.com/clients/basics/bloomberg/reports/US/EN/New_York/consumer_sentiment/year/2008/yearly/12/index.html>
*Released For:* Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Definition
The University of Michigan's Consumer Survey Center questions 500 households
each month on their financial conditions and attitudes about the economy.
Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending.
Consumer confidence and consumer sentiment are two ways of talking about
consumer attitudes. Among economic reports, consumer sentiment refers to the
Michigan survey while consumer confidence refers to The Conference Board's
survey. Why Do Investors Care?
The pattern in consumer attitudes and spending is often the foremost
influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth
translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds,
the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation.
Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and
excessive (inflationary) growth. This balance was achieved through much of
the nineties. For this reason alone, investors in the stock and bond markets
enjoyed huge gains during the bull market of the 1990s. Consumer confidence
did shift down in tandem with the equity market between 2000 and 2002 and
then recovered in 2003 and 2004. Consumers became more pessimistic in 2005
when gasoline prices surged.
Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, so the
markets are always dying to know what consumers are up to and how they might
behave in the near future. The more confident consumers are about the
economy and their own personal finances, the more likely they are to spend.
With this in mind, it's easy to see how this index of consumer attitudes
gives insight to the direction of the economy. Just note that changes in
consumer confidence and retail sales don't move in tandem month by month.
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