Looking Up – Who Cares About Confidence?
Indicators of things like unemployment and prices are hard to read during the week between Christmas and New Year's. So the news to watch last week wasn't an economic indicator per se. Instead, it was the latest report on consumer confidence.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index for December came in at an all-time low. Despite being up slightly in November, the index dropped again in December.
Reactionsamong many economists focused on the reasons for the drop. For the most part, they attributed it to the psychological impact of rising...