It was a rocky day on the Dow today as stocks began the day itching for another rally, but quickly sunk after depressing consumer confidence news was released. You might remember that back in June we mentioned that the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index® had fallen for the first time in four months. Today, the Conference Board announced that their Consumer Confidence Index® declined once again in July. In the report (which you can read here) Conference Board Consumer Research Center Director Lynn Franco mentioned that consumers had grown even more pessimistic about the economy’s short-term outlook. Business and employment concerns are cited as reasons for the drop in confidence.
Of course, yesterday’s announcement by the Department of Commerce could go far in reversing the declining trend of consumer confidence. Evidence of this can be seen in the Dow Jones Industrial Average today which gained another 12.11 points to close at 10,537.54. Unlike the Dow, the Nasdaq was down, closing at 2,288.25 a decrease of 8.18 points from Monday. The S&P 500 was also down, losing 1.17 points to close at 1,113.84.
European markets all closed up today while Asian markets were mixed.
