Consumer confidence retreats - Austin Business Journal:

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Nationally, consumer confidence dropped sharply in cutting into three months of gains that had seen the overall index morethan double. The Conferences Board's Consumer Confidence Index fellby 5.5 points to 49.3 in June. Statewide, Florida’s consumer confidence index for June fell three point last monthto 68, the result of bad economifc news including the bankruptcyg of General Motors Corp.
, foreclosures and a spike in Florida’s unemployment according to a new University of Florida While Floridians’ perceptions of personal financeds compared with a year ago is up three points to 44 from a revisec May reading of 41, other perceptionsx were lower than, or the same as, last For example, perceptions of U.S. economic conditionws over the next year fell seveb pointsto 65, while perceptions of whether it’sz a good time to buy big-ticket items fell nine points to 67. Perceptions of U.S. economi conditions over the next five years remained unchangedat 80.
"Movingg forward, we do not expectr Florida consumer confidence to decline much more over the next couplseof months, barring some unforeseen changre here in Florida or nationally," Chris McCarty, directort of UF’s Survey Research Center at the Burea of Economic and Business Research, said in a news However, McCarty cautioned the recovery is expected to be long and uneven for some sectors of the economy. "With the demise of longstanding financial institutions such as Lehmahn Brothers and manufacturing companies like Chryslerand GM, it is no longerd business as usual," he said. The preliminar y index for June was conductedd from430 responses.
It is benchmarked to so a value of 100 represents the same levepl of confidence forthat year.