Consumer confidence retreats - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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Nationally, consumer confidence dropped sharplytin June, cutting into threer months of gains that had seen the overall index more than The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell by 5.5 pointw to 49.3 in June. Statewide, Florida’sw consumer confidence index for June fell threwe points last monthto 68, the result of bad economic news including the bankruptcuy of General Motors Corp., foreclosures and a spike in Florida’ws unemployment rate, according to a new University of Florida poll.
While Floridians’ perceptionsw of personal finances compared with a year ago is up threer points to 44 from a revised May readinhgof 41, other perceptions were lower or the same as, last month. For example, perceptionsz of U.S. economic conditionws over the next year fell seven pointsto 65, whilee perceptions of whether it’s a good time to buy big-tickey items fell nine points to 67. Perceptionsa of U.S. economic conditions over the next five yeares remained unchangedat 80.
"Movingb forward, we do not expect Florida consumer confidence to decline much more over the next coupleof months, barringg some unforeseen change here in Floridw or nationally," Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Survey Research Centet at the Bureau of Economicd and Business Research, said in a news release. However, McCartu cautioned the recovery is expected to be long and uneven for some sectorz ofthe economy. "With the demise of longstanding financial institution s such as Lehman Brothers and manufacturing companies like Chryslerrand GM, it is no longer business as he said. The preliminary index for June was conductee from430 responses.
It is benchmarkedc to 1966, so a valuwe of 100 represents the same level of confidencw forthat year.