Confidence wilts but future purchase plans remain strong
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Consumer confidence is down in August, according to BIGresearch's (http://www.bigresearch.com) monthly Consumer Intentions & Actions Survey (CIA). Confidence declined to 43.8% from July when it was at 47.8%. However, the August number is still higher than August 06 when confidence was 38.6%.
Some of the other key economic mood findings from the survey include (versus July numbers in parenthesis):
Focused more on needs over wants in purchasing 46.5% (47.4%)
More layoffs next 6 months 33.3% (31.4%)
Current financial situation worse off than a year ago 31.7% (N/A)
Top financial plan - "paying down debt" 33.1% (33.8%)
Consumers continue to cast a wary eye on the price of gas and when asked what price a gallon of gas would be on Labor Day, they said an average of 3.14. More than half (61.1%) felt gas prices would rise by Labor Day, 31.4% said they would stay the same and 7.4% were optimistic and believed the price would decline.
Shopping strategies appear to be evolving towards a price orientation as 17.8% cited only buying clothing when on sale, versus 13.7% who said sales are not important when buying clothing. However, familiar brands continue to increase in importance when buying clothing, with 42.5% saying so (versus 39.5% in August 06).
Future purchase plans (next 6 months) for most big ticket durables were up from August 06 for computers, furniture, appliances, jewelry, TVs, digital cameras and vacation travel.
Some of the other key economic mood findings from the survey include (versus July numbers in parenthesis):
Focused more on needs over wants in purchasing 46.5% (47.4%)
More layoffs next 6 months 33.3% (31.4%)
Current financial situation worse off than a year ago 31.7% (N/A)
Top financial plan - "paying down debt" 33.1% (33.8%)
Consumers continue to cast a wary eye on the price of gas and when asked what price a gallon of gas would be on Labor Day, they said an average of 3.14. More than half (61.1%) felt gas prices would rise by Labor Day, 31.4% said they would stay the same and 7.4% were optimistic and believed the price would decline.
Shopping strategies appear to be evolving towards a price orientation as 17.8% cited only buying clothing when on sale, versus 13.7% who said sales are not important when buying clothing. However, familiar brands continue to increase in importance when buying clothing, with 42.5% saying so (versus 39.5% in August 06).
Future purchase plans (next 6 months) for most big ticket durables were up from August 06 for computers, furniture, appliances, jewelry, TVs, digital cameras and vacation travel.
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