James Pethokoukis

Consumer confidence has strengthened as the prospects of a Great Depression 2.0 have seemingly subsided. But it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire thanks to rising unemployment.  And maybe that explains these plunging consumer confidence numbers from Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Investor Index dropped 15 points on Friday, the largest single day decline ever recorded in its seven-year history. The drop caps a week of extreme volatility for the Index and now shows investor confidence at the lowest level in two months. The culprit—both for the volatility and the current low level of confidence—is shifting perceptions on where the economy is heading next. Today, just 24% of investors say the economy is getting better while 47% say it is getting worse. A couple of days ago, the outlook was much less pessimistic: 34% better and 40% worse.