Commentary
The government shutdown will keep us from seeing the normal array of federal statistics, such as the jobs report (scheduled for last Friday) or the upcoming inflation reports, and other vital statistics, but we got a look at some September statistics last Tuesday, as the Conference Board announced that its consumer confidence index declined to 94.2 in September, down from 97.8 in August. This was largely due to a 7-point decline in the “present situation” component. Their “expectations” component also declined, from 74.7 in August to 73.4 in September. I must say that I am surprised to see such a large decline in consumer confidence, since consumer spending has been outpacing personal income in recent months.
