Consumer Comfort Index Weakens

Some measures of consumer confidence have been wavering including the weekly consumer comfort index which is down 8 tenths in the October 16 week to 41.3, returning to the sub-42 range where it has spent much of the last month. The consumer sentiment index, released last week and pulled lower by falling expectations, weakened in the first-half of the month but did show strength in the current assessment. In contrast, the consumer confidence index, in data however for September, showed solid strength throughout. Still, the weakness in October readings does hint at slowing in consumer spending as well perhaps as the jobs market.