Consumers' minds these days are about as jumbled as the racks at Filene's Basement at closing time.
Consumer confidence took a sharp downward turn in August, according to a report by the Conference Board, a private research group. But just a day earlier, the Commerce Department reported spending was up slightly despite tepid job growth.
The 32,000 jobs that employers added to payrolls in July was the smallest gain this year, and a sign to some that the economic engine had once again stalled. Economists expected 230,000 new jobs, about seven times as many as created.
A jumble of mixed signals are weighing on consumers these days. A shaky job market, the supercharged rhetoric of the presidential campaign, turbulent gasoline prices and terrorism fears are pressing against fierce retail competition and credit so available that you can use plastic to buy a Big Mac. The U.S. economy, heavily dependent on consumer spending, hangs in the balance.
After rising steadily since April, consumer confidence took a drastic dip last month. The Consumer Index dropped to 98.2 from 105.7 in July, the Conference Board reported - though still higher than it has been since the start of the year.
"It's been a stop-and-go pattern," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center in New York. "We saw earlier this summer where a strong growth in the labor market helped increase confidence. Now it's causing consumers to pause and return to cautious spending they had earlier this year."
"The present situation has declined from where it was in July, but it's not in a red-flag territory," Franco said. "So we shouldn't see spending fall off the charts, but we wouldn't expect to see it pick up that much."
Yesterday, Alicia Smith, 47, of Baltimore was busy buying an Easy Bake Oven and a Shrek punching bag for her grandchildren at Security Square Mall in Woodlawn, undeterred by her yearlong job search after being laid off as a secretary.
"I try to look for bargains," said Smith, who collects unemployment. "But if it's something I really want, I buy it."
Lisa Bayne of Perry Hall took a two-year leave from teaching since having a baby, but shops as she did when she had a job, she said. Yesterday, she was buying a wedding gift at Towson Town Center, with her 4-month- old daughter, Sydney.
The economy "is something to watch," she said, but "people's attitudes don't change with it. If they want something, they're going out and buying it."
