Weakened Buying Sentiment Hits Consumer Confidence

Feb. 2, 2010 — -- Americans' ratings of the buying climate have softened to their worst level since fall, holding consumer confidence near its record low.

The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index stands at -49 on its scale of +100 to -100, in a 2-point range the past four weeks and just 5 points from its all-time low in 24 years of weekly polls, -54 last January. Its long-term average is -13.

Click here for PDF with charts and data table.

Improved ratings of the buying climate led an advance in December, with the CCI reaching -41 the first week of January. That's evaporated: Seventy-eight percent now call it a bad time to buy things they want and need, up 8 points in seven weeks.

The other two components of the index have been steadier, but remain weak. Fifty-five percent rate their own finances negatively and 91 percent say the national economy's in bad shape.

GDP rose by 5.7 percent in the 4th quarter of 2009, the fastest since Q3 2003. But with unemployment still extraordinarily high that growth hasn't improved consumer views. Indeed the hangover could take time to clear: GDP shrank by 2.4 percent in 2009 overall, its first negative year since 1991 and the worst since 1946. And the CCI had its worst year on record.

INDEX – Views of the economy overall are the worst of the index's three measures. Only 9 percent of Americans rate it positively, 29 points below the long-term average and in single digits for 10 weeks straight.

Just 22 percent call it a good time to spend money, 15 points worse than average. And 45 percent rate their personal finances positively, 12 points below average and below a majority for 77 of the last 80 weeks.

TREND – The index has been below -40 for a record 93 consecutive weeks. It's just a point above the -50 mark, a level its reached 23 times since the recession began in December 2007, compared with just once previously, in February 1992, in weekly polls since December 1985.