Shop Talk

Check out consumers’ flagging confidence in February.

Analysts had expected consumer confidence to tick higher — to 75 from 74.4 in late January — but it slipped to 73.7 according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers’ preliminary index of sentiment for February.

The February result is an improvement over 56.3 percent a year ago, but consumers remain worried about stubbornly high unemployment and most are looking for no gain in income or home values this year.

While U.S. consumer confidence slipped in February, the U.S. Commerce Department said January’s total retail sales increased a stronger-than-expected 0.5 percent.  In addition, December and November were both revised to show stronger spending.

How confident are you feeling?

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(Reuters photo)