U.S. consumer confidence dropped for a second straight month in December as a deterioration in the labor market amid renewed business restrictions to slow the raging pandemic offset the rolling out of a vaccine for Covid-19.
The decline in confidence to a four-month low reported by the Conference Board on Tuesday was the latest indication that the economic recovery from the pandemic was losing steam, also because of delays by Congress to approve another rescue package.
The government confirmed on Tuesday that the economy grew at a historic pace in the third quarter, juiced up by more than $3 trillion in pandemic relief. Congress on Monday approved additional fiscal stimulus worth almost $900 billion, but economists said this was insufficient and too late to counter a bleak winter of rising coronavirus infections and layoffs. Read more…..
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Conference Board Chief Economist Bart Van Ark discusses consumer confidence amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic recession.
