Consumer confidence falls
THE BOSTON HERALD Consumer Confidence Falls By Jay Fitzgerald
The state’s high unemployment rate and the prospect of a slow economic recovery are wearing down the confidence of both consumers and business executives in Massachusetts, two new surveys show. A survey by Mass Insight, a research firm, shows that consumer confidence in the state plunged by 19 points last month to its lowest level since October 2009.
The fall reverses two straight quarters in which consumer confidence in Massachusetts had risen. “It is all about jobs,” said Mass Insight president William H. Guenther. “One quarter of Massachusetts households had someone out of work in the last year. And with no relief in sight, it’s not surprising that confidence has collapsed again.”
Separately, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts’ business confidence index dropped 5.2 points in July to 48.5, below the neutral 50 level.
“This is the index’s most significant monthly setback since it bottomed out in February 2009,” said Raymond Torto, global chief economist at CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. and chairman of AIM’s board of economic advisers.