According to University of Michigan Survey, stock market declines have consumers uneasy about prospects for economy. Low inflation critical for maintaining confidence.
Consumer confidence remained largely unchanged, as the January reading was just 0.6 percent below December’s level, according to the University of Michigan (U-M) Surveys of Consumers.
The small downward revisions were due to stock market declines that were reflected in the erosion of household wealth as well as weakened prospects for the national economy, according to U-M economist Richard Curtin, who directs the surveys.
Conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research since 1946, the surveys monitor consumer