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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2003)
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Wednesday, October 1, 2003 THE BATTALION September consumer confidence falls more than nation expected By Annie D'Innocenzio THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Consumer confidence NEW YORK — Dragged down by a still-sluggish job market, consumer confidence in the economy dropped more sharply than expected in September. The sour report and a disap pointing reading on business activity in the Midwest helped send stocks lower on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average was down nearly 70 points in afternoon trading. The Consumer Confidence Index fell to 76.8, down nearly five points from the revised 81.7 registered in August, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. The decrease was steeper than expected — analysts were looking for a reading of 80.5. It was the biggest decline since July, when consumer sentiment fell 6.5 points to 77. The index had bounced back in August. “The lack of improvement in labor market conditions contin ues to dampen consumers’ spir its,” said Lynn Franco, director of the board’s consumer research center. “Despite September’s retreat, consumers remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the next six months. Consumer spending is likely to continue at or near current levels.” Here is a look at the Consumer Confidence Index from a survey of 5,000 U.S. households. Seasonally adjusted. 1985= 100 120 110 One month ago 81.7 One year ago 93.7 100 90 76.8 80 70 60 OND J FMAMJ JAS 2003 SOURCE: The Conference Board AP Economists closely track consumer confidence because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. “We have enjoyed a period of optimism over the summer,” said Gary Thayer, chief econo mist at A. G. Edwards & Sons Inc., referring to the tax cuts, victory in Iraq and gains in the stock market. “But now we are seeing a more sober view of things, primarily because of jobs.” The nation’s unemployment rate dipped to 6.1 percent in August, but businesses cut 93,000 jobs, the seventh month in a row of job losses. Robusi productivity gains, meanwhile, have allowed companies to pro duce more with fewer workers, Still, consumer spending has continued to grow moderately, increasing by 0.8 percent last month on top of a 0.9 percent advance in July. Larger pay checks and other incentives from President Bush’s third tax cuthas helped prop up spending. Consumers anticipating that business conditions will improve over the next sit months slipped to 21.4 percent from 22.6 percent in August, Those anticipating business con ditions to deteriorate rose to 11.9 percent from 10.6 percent. Those anticipating the job market to improve in the next six months decreased to 16.1 percent from 18.0 percent. Those expecting fewer jobs to become available increased to 21.0 percent from 18.6 percent. Meanwhile, the Purchasing Management Association of Chicago said that its index of area business activity fell to 51.2 in September on a seasonally adjusted basis from 58.9 in August. Economists were antic ipating a much smaller decline to 57.0. Still, a reading above 50indi cates that business is expanding and September marked the fifth straight month that the Midwestern business barometer indicated growth. NEWS IN BRIEF Hormones may raise risk of ovarian cancer, study says CHICAGO (AP) — Estrogen-progestin pills do not reduce the risk of ovarian cancer and might even increase it, according to a study that rais es more red flags about a once widely accepted treatment for women going through menopause. The findings came from the federally funded Women’s Health Initiative study, part of which was abruptly halted in 2002 because of evi dence that estrogen-progestin pills raise the risk of breast cancer, heart attacks and strokes. The new analysis found that 32 of the 16,608 participants developed ovarian cancer during about 5 1/2 years of follow-up. There were 20 cases in women who took hormones and 12 in those on dummy pills. The difference is not statistically significant because the cancer was so rare, but the trends worrisome, said lead author Garnet Anderw of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Reseaith Center in Seattle. The analysis appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. 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