U.S. CONSUMER SENTIMENT UNEXPECTEDLY FALLS IN NOVEMBER
NEW YORK
(Reuters) - U.S. consumer sentiment
unexpectedly dipped in November to a near two-year low as lower-income
households worried about their job prospects and financial outlooks and
negative views of the government lingered, a survey released on Friday showed.
The Thomson Reuters/University of
Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment fell
to 72.0 in November, its lowest since December 2011. That was lower than both
October's final reading of 73.2 and the 74.5 economists had expected this
month.
Lower-income households in
particular worried about their future financial state. That was a contrast to
richer households - those with incomes above $75,000 - which felt more
optimistic as stock prices increases boosted net wealth gains.
Nevertheless, consumers largely
remained nearly as negative on government policies as they were last month,
when a federal government shutdown prompted worries growth would drag.
The government also came close to
breaching its borrowing limit, which compounded the crisis and could have
pushed the country closer to an historic debt default.
"Following the end of the
shutdown, consumers were somewhat more optimistic about the outlook for the economy, but thus far the rebound has been
lackluster," survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement.
The survey's gauge of consumer
expectations edged down to 62.3, compared to 62.5 in October and expectations
of 64.0.
The index of current conditions
slipped to 87.2 from 89.9 last month. Analysts had projected a reading of 90.0.
The one-year inflation expectation
rose to 3.1 percent from 3.0 percent, while the five-to-10-year inflation
outlook gained to 2.9 percent from 2.8 percent.
(Reporting by Luciana Lopez; Editing
by Meredith Mazzilli)
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