Following the very weak Conference Board Consumer Confidence figure on Tuesday and the 4 month low in the ABC confidence poll, the final Feb U of Michigan confidence figure was little changed (73.6) with the preliminary (73.7) but was a touch below expectations of 73.9 and down from 74.4 in Jan. From Jan, Current Conditions rose by .7 pts but the future Outlook fell by 1.7 pts. One year Inflation expectations are at 2.7%, down .1% from Jan. From the initial report of a few weeks ago and which makes up 60% of the final #, Current Conditions fell by 2.3 pts, partially offset by a 1.5 pts gain in the Outlook. Bottom line with all these confidence figures, they are all greatly influenced by the labor market and how one feels doesn’t necessarily lead to action and its why these data points are more anecdotal in nature and historically not market moving.
