Consumer confidence came in at 94.6 in October, the third consecutive monthly decline. Slight solace comes from the fact that last month's measure was upwardly revised to 95.6 from 94.2, leaving consumers sitting about where we thought they were last month. Consumers' assessment of their current situation ticked up slightly, while their future expectations declined (chart). Though things haven't exactly gotten better, they haven't gotten particularly worse, either. We have long cautioned against reading too much into confidence and sentiment as they do not away serve as reliable gauges for future consumer spending. ... (full story)