The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence measure fell all the way to 71.2 points. It was expected to slide from 79.7 to 75 points in October. This reflects the impact of the government shutdown and the threat of default due to the debt ceiling. Business Inventories rose by 0.3% as expected after a rise of 0.4% last month. The inventories data is from August and was delayed due to the government shutdown.
The dollar was showing some strength during the day, despite mediocre figures. The dollar continues gaining ground, with EUR/USD ticking below 1.3760.
We will probably see more signs of worries, not only from consumers but also from the people making the decisions: purchasing managers’ indices are likely to drop.
Earlier, the US reported a drop of 0.1% in retail sales during September. House prices continued to rise, with the S&P Case Shiller indicator showing a year over year rise of 12.8%.
The euro has enjoyed a very nice rally, but its fate might begin changing. See this article:Â Has the Euro slide against the US Dollar started?
