The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index for January, released Tuesday, declined 9.7 points to a reading of 84.5, the lowest since 2014, surpassing the lows of last year when Trump unveiled stiff tariffs and the depths of the pandemic recession in 2020. Employment researchers are warning that the share of Americans who are only loosely attached to the labor force is on the rise, and that the true rate of unemployment may be far higher than official figures suggest. Pending home sales, which track the number of contracts signed in December, plunged by 9.3% seasonally adjusted from November, to the lowest level for any December on record in the data by the National Association of Realtors, which goes back to 2010.
Author: Michael Snyder
Published at: 2026-01-28 23:30:25
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