The Downs and Even-More-Downs of Consumer Confidence

Was consumer confidence rising or falling last month? Depends on who you ask. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers found a slight uptick in January vs. the previous month (to 78.4 from 75.5), even though the number was far below that of January 2007 (96.9). Meanwhile, polling by Gallup found consumer confidence going from bad to worse. Though Gallup found an upward blip in confidence at the very beginning of January, this had been reversed by the time the month limped to an end.