Consumer Confidence Slipped at End of 2000

Staff -- graphic arts online, 1/1/2001

A wobbly stock market, slower gains in employment and income, and a Presidential election that dragged into overtime combined to depress the spirits of American consumers during the final months of last year.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) fell by 1.7% between October and November 2000 after declining by 4.7% the month before. With a November reading of 133.5 on the board's scale, where average confidence during the year 1985 is equal to an index level of 100, the composite CCI was 2.6% lower than during the same month in 1999.

Consumer assessment of economic conditions increased 1.1% over the last month, and was still about 1% higher during November 2000 than in November of 1999. However, the CCI component measuring expectations for the future (defined as six months ahead in this survey) fell by a sharp 4.6% between October and November. Further, this forward-looking component of the index dropped to a level 6.3% lower in November 2000 than during November 1999.

The CCIs for seven of the nation's nine regions recorded decreases between October and November. Consumers in the Rocky Mountain states remained the most upbeat in the nation during November 2000, with a confidence reading 8.6% higher than the national average.

In all, American consumers were showing much more anxiety about future economic conditions in the final weeks of 2000. But the still relatively high level of the confidence index didn't suggest they believed that the nation's record-long economic expansion would come to an end anytime soon.