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Consumer Confidence Hits 26-Year Low

Posted Apr 11, 08 11:10 AM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – Consumer confidence hasn’t been this low since 1982, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan index, which reported a slide to 63.2 from March’s 69.5. That was lower than even the lowest estimates in a Bloomberg analyst poll. “The consumer’s feeling increasingly hemmed in,” said one economist. “The economy is in a recession.”

The usual host of economic ills was depressing consumers, including high energy and food prices. One standout issue was employment; 80,000 jobs were lost in March, the most in five years. Oil prices, meanwhile, averaged $105.42 a barrel, a $10-per-barrel jump from the month before. Nor are consumers optimistic about a turnaround: the expectations index fell to 53.4, its lowest reading since 1990.

Source Bloomberg

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A shopper looks for clothes at Mars vintage clothes in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday, March 25, 2008.   (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Victoria Fiedler and her daughter Christine window shop as they walk past Fontenay on Devine Street in Columbia, S.C., Wednesday, March 25, 2008.   (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
A sign at the former Georgee's Restaurant in Lake Alfred, Fla. is seen Tuesday, March 25, 2008.   (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Holiday shoppers walk past a sale sign at Emerald Square Mall in North Attleboro, Mass., in this Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Stew Milne, file)
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