Consumer Confidence at All-Time Low

The Conference Board, a New York-based business research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 38 in December from the downwardly revised 44.7 in November.

Economists were expecting the index to increase to 45.5, according to a www.Briefing.com consensus survey of economists.

“The further erosion of the Consumer Confidence Index reflects the rapid and steep deterioration of economic conditions that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2008,” said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, in a statement.

Driving the pessimism is the plunge in housing prices, the decline of the stock market and the worsening job market. Layoffs and income cuts were widespread this year. The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits rose to a 26-year high for the week ended Dec. 20.

Although the economy may start to improve in mid-2009, unemployment is expected to worsen until early 2010, according to some observers.