Bloomberg's weekly Consumer Comfort Index just had its largest two-week drop in over 13 months after tracking stocks up to near four-year highs in early April. These levels are still markedly negative compared to the zero print in early 2007 and while the index has generally tracked sideways, the consumer finally seemed to go all-in when Europe's LTRO and Fiscal Compact was announced and the world's coordinated easing occurred starting in November of last year. However the divergences within the data are growing rapidly with high-income individuals near four-year highs in terms of their comfort as low-income individuals at near record-lows for comfort. The comfort spread between rich and poor has not been this wide since before the crisis and yet so many expected 'change'.
Consumers finally threw in the towel as recession fatigue appeared to hit in November of last year and sentiment suddenly improved...
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But the last two weeks have seen the biggest plunge in 13 months...
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with lower income households near four-year (all-time) lows and yet higher income (>50K) near four-year highs - not a pretty picture as the rich-poor divide (lower pane) nears record pre-crisis levels...
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Charts: Bloomberg