Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

The Consumer Confidence Index held steady at 26.0 in March, up a tick from its 25.3 reading in February. The positive increase followed three consecutive months of declines, but economists remained dour as they had expected a CCI of 28 for the month.

Is the worst over? It depends on who you ask. I think the economic freefall that has gripped the American psyche over the last six months may be waning, and that we may well indeed be “bottoming out”. But that is not to say that good times are necessarily ahead. My feeling is that Americans have digested about as much apocalyptic gloom and doom as they can, have assessed their particular situation and have come to the conclusion that they’ll survive – that they have indeed survived. Perhaps a little poorer for the experience, but definitely a little wiser.