Consumer Sentiment Falls In September

Another weak consumer sentiment report. From Dow Jones:

Consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level since August 2009 as of the middle of September.

The preliminary Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for the current month came in at 66.6, from 68.9 in August and 67.8 in July. The index had been expected to stand at 70.

The preliminary current conditions index was 78.4, from 78.3, while the expectations index hit 59.1, versus August's 62.9.

The outlook for inflation wilted, with the preliminary one year inflation reading at 2.2%, the lowest since September 2009, from 2.7% the prior month, while the five year reading was 2.8%, from 2.8%.

I have never been particularly fond of this indicator because it is more of a coincident indicator and does not help predict future stock market performance. As you can see from the chart below, consumer sentiment pretty much tracks the SP 500 and that is about it.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Black Swan Insights

Consumer Sentiment Falls In September