Consumer sentiment rose 1.0% to 81.2 in early October, according to preliminary results from the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers. This represents a 15% decline year over year. “Slowing employment growth, the resurgence in covid-19 infections, and the absence of additional federal relief payments prompted consumers to become more concerned about the current economic conditions,” says Survey of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin. “Those concerns were largely offset by continued small gains in economic prospects for the year ahead. The Current Conditions Index recorded its second small reversal, the ... (full story)