Consumer Comfort Falls to 2015 Low as View of U.S. Economy Dims
Bloomberg - Feb 26, 2015
Consumer sentiment retreated last week to the lowest level of the year as Americans’ views of the economy and their finances dimmed.
The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to 42.7 in the period ended Feb. 22 from 44.6 a week earlier. The 1.9-point decline was the biggest since May 2014. A gauge of the current state of the economy slumped by the most in almost four years.
Confidence has deteriorated in three of the last four weeks as gasoline prices started climbing from the lowest level since 2009. Sentiment is also being restrained by what Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen this week called “sluggish†wage growth, even as the labor market continues to improve.
The drop in in sentiment last week coincided with “still largely stagnant wages, tough sledding in the stock market and a recent rise in gas prices after a record four-month decline,†said Gary Langer, president of Langer Research Associates LLC in New York, which produces the data for Bloomberg.
