U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Drops to 69.6 This Month
By Courtney Schlisserman
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers fell more than expected this month, reaching a 16-year low, as the labor market cooled.
The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment decreased to 69.6 from 78.4 in January, the lowest since February 1992.
The first drop in employment in more than four years and higher gasoline prices are causing Americans to take a dimmer view of the economy and their financial situation. That may reduce consumer spending, which has already has slowed in recent months.
The first chart compares the SP 500 and Michigan Consumer Sentiment. There is a pronounced divergence between the stock market and Consumer Sentiment.
The second chart adds the SP 500 as deflated by gold, which shows a remarkable coincidence with the Consumer Sentiment.
One can only wonder.
"'I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ No, father Abraham,’ the rich man said, ‘but if someone from the dead appears to them, they will repent.’ And Abraham said, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not change and repent, even if someone were to rise from the dead.’” Luke 16:27-31