US Consumer Confidence Fell Sharply in November

The US consumer is the most fickle indicator I can imagine. Bad day in the markets? I don't buy the item(s) I have been eyeing. Good day? Sure, let's splurge. If 40% of consumers aren't in the markets, then all they have is the media/gut feel to keep them buying. That said, while this is a consumer economy, something like 89% of the consumption comes from the top 30% of wage earners. Presumably, they are all in the markets. So, if the market volatility comes down and prices begin to rise, you can bet this confidence number goes up.....but, more importantly, the ACTUAL $$ of consumption increases at a much higher rate than a survey can capture.

"Consumers earning less than $15K was the only income bracket in which confidence improved in November but remained the least optimistic among all income groups. " Less than $15k??? So high school students and those working less than 20 hrs/week ($15/hr*20*50)? Uh, yeah, I could see how their confidence might be affected more by higher prices (even if inflation is sub 3%) and social media...

The older group (55+) was also negatively impacted, but that would presumably be due to seeing their retirement accounts dip over the past 30 days

Consumer confidence numbers have little to no correlation to spending. Consumer spending is down slightly as is to be expected, but these confidence numbers mean nothing which is why stocks just keep going up.

Let it burn