Confidence plunges, Inflation rate soars

Confidence plunges, Inflation rate soars

news.yahoo.com

Consumer confidence weakened significantly as Americans worry about less-favorable business conditions and job prospects. The New York-based Conference Board says in a report released on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged in February to 75.0 from a revised 87.3 in January.

The reading — the lowest since the index registered 64.8 in February 2003 — is far below the 83.0 analysts expected.

The index measures how consumers feel now about the economy. It has been weakening since July, suggesting that wary consumers may retrench financially, which could fatigue the economy further.

Inflation at the wholesale level soared in January, pushed higher by rising costs for food, energy and medicine. The monthly increase carried the annual inflation rate to its fastest jump in a quarter century.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that wholesale prices rose 1 percent last month, more than double the 0.4 percent increase that economists had been expecting.

The January surge left wholesale prices rising by 7.5 percent over the past 12 months, the fastest pace in more than 26 years, since prices had risen at a 7.5 percent pace in the 12 months ending in October 1981.

The number of homes facing foreclosure jumped 57 percent in January compared to a year ago, with lenders increasingly forced to take possession of homes they couldn't unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday.

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Hmm, I would say this flys in the face of recent rosey reports put out by Reuters and the NABE, The economy just keeps getting worse and worse. And now with the fed's idiotic "power-printing" of more worthless dollars, inflation is going through the roof. Couple that with a destroyed housing and job market---Recipe for total disaster.

news.yahoo.com
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