Forums: Consumer Finance

Uncertainty about the economy continued to shake consumer confidence in July, pushing a key measure of morale to the lowest level since February. The Conference Board, a New York-based research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped for a second straight month, to 50.4 in July from June's upwardly revised level of 54.3. July's reading was lower than expected. Economists had forecast the index to have ticked down to 51 in July from 52.9 in June, according to a consensus estimate from Briefing.com. "Consumer confidence faded further in July as consumers continue to grow increasingly more pessimistic about...

Battle brews over director for new Consumer Financial Protection BureauThe agency with the power to make rules for credit cards, mortgages and other products is created as Obama signs the financial overhaul law. By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times July 22, 2010 Reporting from Washington — President Obama reversed decades of lax oversight of the financial industry Wednesday by signing a landmark overhaul of regulations, but he still faces a major task — appointing a director for the powerful new agency charged with protecting consumers from unscrupulous deals.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod told reporters Friday that Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren is a candidate to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created in the recently passed financial reform legislation. Warren, who currently heads the TARP congressional oversight panel, was one of the first to propose such a bureau. But making Warren the consumer finance protection cop is a bad idea. She has been more than willing to produce research on consumer finances that is shoddy at best and dishonest at worst.

The number of filings rose to 770,117 from 675,351 a year earlier, the group said, citing data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center. Sam Gerdano, the ABI's executive director, said the increase stemmed from years of rising consumer debt levels and low savings rates, together with high unemployment and the nation's housing difficulties. Though consumer filings dropped 8 percent in June from May to 126,270, Gerdano projected there will be more than 1.6 million new bankruptcy filings in all of 2010. The U.S. Labor Department earlier said U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell 125,000 in June, the largest drop since October. An...

NEW YORK – Americans, worried about jobs and the sluggish economic recovery, are having a relapse in confidence, causing a widely watched index to tumble in June and raising concerns about consumer spending in the critical months ahead. The Conference Board, a private research group based in New York, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped almost 10 points to 52.9, down from the revised 62.7 in May. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had been expecting the reading to dip slightly to 62.8. June's reading marked the biggest drop since February, when the index fell 10 points. The index...

Why Retails Sales Are Much Better Than They Look Vincent Fernando, CFA Jun. 11, 2010, 10:12 AM Econompic breaks down today's retail sales report nicely, showing how retails sales missed expectations mostly due to falling building materials and gasoline sales. Econompic: Building materials (which fell back to earth following a spike in April to take advantage of the end of the tax credit) and a 20% decline in the price of gasoline led the fall (these figures are nominal). Subtracting those outliers we still have a decline, which shows weakness. Just not as weak as early reports would indicate. So...

America's shoppers The retailers' dilemma As they decide how to stock their shelves later this year, America’s shopkeepers are debating whether the recent rise in consumer spending will last May 27th 2010 | NEW YORK | From The Economist print edition THE mood of executives at retail firms normally moves in lockstep with that of their customers. But in America the news on May 25th that consumer confidence had reached its highest level in two years left them oddly subdued. Consumer spending per person, which fell for two years in a row for the first time since the Depression last...

Amid all the optimism that the consumer is back, it’s worth considering one of the reasons why: a huge tax refund season. As the economy was nose-diving last spring, most people probably overlooked the record-smashing $259 billion in refunds awarded (as of April 24) — roughly $40 billion, or 17% ahead of the 2008 tax season. Back then, panic was in the air, consumers were retrenching and the refunds acted as a Band-Aid on an open wound. But this year, with an economic upturn under way, an even more rewarding tax season is serving more as a vitamin boost. New...

I just heard on the news that the Consumer Confidence Index was up for March at 52.5, up 6.1. I don't really follow this or understand it, but I usually notice whether it is up or down. Then they added that it is normally around 90! WHAT? I had not ever heard that before. I thought I would look into it a little bit. Wikipedia good enough for my casual inquiry. "The Consumer Confidence Index was started in 1967 and is benchmarked to 1985=100. This year was chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough. The Index is...

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline)-A group of Democratic state attorneys general are calling on the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to create a national consumer protection watchdog agency, but warning lawmakers not to limit AGs' powers in the process. Among attorneys general doggedly pushing for the creation of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Agency is Lisa Madigan of Illinois, Tom Miller of Iowa and Richard Cordray of Ohio.