Oct Consumer Confidence was a touch above expectations at 50.2 vs the estimate of 49.9 and was up from a slightly revised 48.6 in Sept but is still below the 1 yr avg of 53.1. Both the Present Situation and Expectations components rose from Sept. Discouragingly, the labor market answers were weak. Those that said jobs were Plentiful fell .3 pts to 3.5, the lowest since Dec ’09 and those that said jobs were Hard to Get rose to the most since Mar. Positively, those that said Business Conditions were Good rose to a 3 mo high and those that said they were Bad fell to a 4 mo low. Those that plan to buy a home within 6 mo’s rose to 2.1 from 2.0 and those that plan to buy an auto was unchanged at 5.0. Those that plan to take a vacation within 6 mo’s rose to the most since Aug ’09. One year inflation expectations remained unchanged at 5.0% for a 3rd month. Bottom line, the labor market remains the main drag on consumer confidence.
