US Consumer Confidence Tumbles For 4th Straight Month Despite Soaring Stocks

‘Hope’ improved marginally in November, according to The Conference Board, but the headline consumer confidence data dropped for the 4th straight month as current conditions slipped.

• Consumer confidence in Nov. fell to 125.5 vs. 126.1 prior month.

• Present situation confidence fell to 166.9 vs. 173.5 last month.

• Consumer confidence expectations rose to 97.9 vs. 94.5 last month.

Consumers’ appraisal of current-day conditions was less favorable in November. The percentage of consumers claiming business conditions are “good” rose slightly from 39.7 percent to 40.2 percent, but those claiming business conditions are “bad” also increased, from 11.0 percent to 13.8 percent.

Source: Bloomberg

Confidence continues to ebb on a YoY basis…

Source: Bloomberg

“Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month, driven by a softening in consumers’ assessment of current business and employment conditions,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board.

“The decline in the Present Situation Index suggests that economic growth in the final quarter of 2019 will remain weak. However, consumers’ short-term expectations improved modestly, and growth in early 2020 is likely to remain at around 2 percent. Overall, confidence levels are still high and should support solid spending during this holiday season.”

Additionally, those saying jobs are “plentiful” decreased from 47.7 percent to 44.8 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” increased from 11.6 percent to 12.7 percent.

And all of this as stocks hit record high after record high.