Consumer sentiment and confidence has been a smorgasbord of confusion recently. Bloomberg's Consumer Comfort index just had its biggest 3-week plunge in 16 months falling back to its lowest since the first week of April. Conference Board confidence was 'stable' at 5.5 year highs and now UMich Confidence, which missed expectations for the first time in 2013 last month [6] in its preliminary print, has been revised up with its final data to the best level in 4 months. The schizophrenia is completed with this little beauty from Gallup [7]. As we have warned before, beware 'the big con' [8] and as these two charts suggest, confidence seems very much in the eye of the beholder [9].
Bloomberg's survey respondents are not happy...
[10]
but UMich are exuberant again...
[11]
take your pick...
[12]
Charts: Bloomberg