Consumer Confidence Drops To All-Time Low

The Consumer Confidence Index fell to 38 in December from a revised 44.7 in November. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected the index to rise incrementally to 45, the Associated Press reports.

The separate Present Situation index, which measures how respondents feel about business conditions and employment prospects, fell to 29.4 in December from 42.3 in November. It is now close to levels last seen after the 1990-1991 recession.

The unemployment rate also hit a 15-year high of 6.7% in November and economists expect additional job losses in the first half of 2009. The proportion of consumers anticipating an increase in their incomes decreased to 12.7% in December from 13.1% in November.

Those claiming business conditions are “bad” increased to 46.0% in December from 40.6% in November, while those saying business conditions are “good” declined to 7.7% from 10.1%. The survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The results are through December 22. 2008 and do not include holiday sales figures.