Today's early release of the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers for August indicated a serious plunge in consumer sentiment with a reading of 54.9 falling 20.32% below the level seen last year while one year inflation expectations remained flat at 3.4%.
The Index of Consumer Expectations (a component of the Index of Leading Economic Indicators) dropped to 45.7, and the Current Economic Conditions Index slid to 69.3.
It's important to recognize that consumer sentiment has seriously eroded over the past few months with the current results plunging to a level not seen since 1980, a major indication that consumers are in the process of tightening even further on spending.
