Rasmussen: Consumer Index Investor Confidence Still Falling, Reaches Another Two-Year Low

Given the down rating of the USA to AA+ or rumors to that effect, I thought I would take a quick peek at the polls to see what effect it has.

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, gained two points on Saturday. At 64.2, consumer confidence is down four points from a week ago, down six points from a month ago and 17 points from three months ago. Confidence is now three points above the 2011 low and 29 points below this year’s high-water mark.

Among investors, the assessment is even more bleak. The Rasmussen Investor Index fell nearly three points on Saturday to the lowest level since March 13, 2009. At 66.9, investor confidence is down twelve points from a week ago, down 14 points from a month ago, and down 27 points from three months ago.

Given a choice of investment options, investors are more likely to place new investment money in a savings account than the stock market..... www.rasmussenreports.com...

Looks like a mixed bag. Consumers do not seem to indicate that they have noticed the news.

We will probably have to wait till next week to see what the actual fallout of the down rating of the USA is.

China is NOT happy.

China, the largest foreign holder of US government debt, made clear that Washington only had itself to blame and called for a new stable global reserve currency.


"The US government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone," China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

The ratings downgrade could raise borrowing costs for the American government, companies and consumers. In addition, the credit rating agencies have said that a downgrade of government debt would probably be followed by downgrades of other entities, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, backed by the government.

By calling the outlook "negative," S&P signalled another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months..... gulfnews.com...

China blasts US, urges new global reserve currency

..."China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, has every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets," China's official news agency said in a commentary.

"International supervision over the issue of US dollars should be introduced

and a new, stable and secured global reserve currency may also be an option to avert a catastrophe caused by any single country," it said.....