Consumer Comfort Continues To Trend Lower

The consumer comfort index continues to trend lower, down 6 tenths in the May 22 week to 42.0 and back near the May 8th sub-42 low of 41.7. This index had trended near 44 during the early part of the year before gradually moving lower in what is not a positive indication for either consumer spending nor consumer confidence in the jobs outlook. Still, not all confidence measures have been weakening especially the closely watched consumer sentiment index which spiked higher in the mid-May reading. The final May reading for consumer sentiment will be posted on tomorrow's calendar.