US consumer confidence falls again

US consumer confidence has fallen again this September, albeit for the first time in three months, as the credit crisis has further agitated the American purse strings with stocks falling and the housing market falling deeper into recession.

The Conference Board’s confidence index fell to 55 from 56.9 in August as the country has been barraged with constant bad news in relation to the economy.

House prices across the 20 US metropolitan areas fell by 16 percent adding cause for concern with the number of foreclosures ever rising, coupled with the fact that, on average, 466,000 are filling first-time claims for unemployment benefits.

Further job losses are expected as there were 105,000 job losses in September alone. However it is the fear and uncertainty that this figure represents that has resulted in such a negative affect on consumer confidence.

The situation looked even worse yesterday following the government’s announcement that they did not approve the $700 billion rescue plan.

This has all resulted in consumers spending more cautiously and this has hit shares of consumer-technology companies. Leading technology companies such as Apple Inc, Google and eBay all dropped sharply as investors were concerned following the fall in consumer confidence.

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