New year brings no joy for consumers

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 0.9 points from 38.6 in December to 37.7 in January — its lowest level since the board began keeping records in 1967. Economists surveyed by Chicago-based Briefing.com Inc. had predicted that the index would increase slightly to 39. The Present Situation Index dipped to 29.9 in January, from 30.2 in December. The Expectations Index, which measures shoppers’ outlook over the next six months, fell to 43, from 44.2. “The Consumer Confidence Index continues to hover at all-time lows, and it appears that consumers have begun the New Year with the same degree of pessimism that they exhibited in the final months of 2008,” Lynn Franco, director of the New York-based Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.