Consumer confidence tumbles

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell to a reading of 38 in December, down from 44.7 in November and matching the record low set in October. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com Inc. of Chicago were expecting the index to fall to 45.5. “The further erosion of the Consumer Confidence Index reflects the rapid and steep deterioration of economic conditions that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2008,” Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement. “The overall economic outlook remains quite dismal for the first half of 2009, and only a modest recovery is expected in the second half,” she wrote. The present-situation index, which measures how shoppers currently feel about the economy, plunged to 29.4 in December from 42.3 in November. The expectations index, which measures shoppers’ outlook over the next six months, fell to 43.8, from 46.2. The Conference Board is based in New York.