Today's release of the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers for March showed a slight decline in consumer sentiment with a reading of 72.5 but remaining 26.53% above the level seen last year.The Index of Consumer Expectations (a component of the Index of Leading Economic Indicators) dropped to 67.2 and the Current Economic Conditions Index declined slightly to 80.8.
Although sentiment was down for the month, the sentiment series has been showing annual increases for twelve consecutive months indicating that while sentiment is still depressed, the panic stricken period of 2008 is far behind.
