Tuesday, 29 Sep 2009 US Consumer Confidence Falls before Holiday Season

Tuesday, 29 Sep 2009

US Consumer Confidence Falls before Holiday Season

It appears as if another bleak report has dampened the recent surge in market optimism regarding the potential for an economic recovery. The Conference Board's report on consumer confidence actually shrank to a reading of 53.1, lower than last month's 54.5, and well beneath the expected rise towards 57.0. Coming just before the onset of the holiday season in the United States, this information does not bode well for the prospects of a speedy recovery.
As a result of this consumer confidence report, safe-haven assets such as the US Dollar made modest gains throughout today's trading. A slump in the stock market also indicted a flight away from riskier assets. The Japanese Yen was also expected to continue strengthening following Japanese Finance Minister Fujii's comments about not intervening in the JPY's recent movements, yet the island currency traded slightly lower against a number of its rivals throughout the day regardless of this sentiment. Traders are still anticipating this Friday's US Non-Farm Payrolls data, which always carries a deep and lasting impact on the USD's trends for the week which follows.