WASHINGTON — For retailers, this is not comforting news just before Black Friday: Consumer sentiment continued to sag this month, failing to rebound from the plunge in October caused by the partial federal government shutdown and budget impasse in Washington.
The Conference Board, a New York research group, said Tuesday that its latest consumer confidence index dropped to 70.4. That is down from 72.4 in October and the lowest reading since April. The index was 80.2 in September.
Analysts had forecast a slight uptick after the end of the government shutdown and stronger-than-expected reports recently on October job creation and third-quarter economic growth.
But consumers’ sentiment toward current economic conditions weakened further this month, and there was increased pessimism about the outlook, particularly for jobs. Consumers’ buying plans fell for cars, houses and appliances.
“When looking ahead six months, consumers expressed greater concern about future job and earning prospects,” said Lynn Franco, an economist at the Conference Board.”All in all, with such uncertainly prevailing, this could be a challenging holiday season for retailers.”
