Consumer confidence sinks

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 9:44 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Consumer confidence tumbled in early September as Hurricane Katrina made people feel increasingly anxious about the economy's prospects and their own in the months ahead, according to figures released today.

The RBC CASH Index, based on polling by Ipsos, showed that consumer confidence sank to 61.5 in September, the lowest since early March 2003, when confidence dropped to 61.4 as a nervous country hunkered down for the start of the Iraq war.

September's decline -- the third straight month that confidence fell -- followed a reading of 72.6 in August. The showing also underscores just how much consumers' confidence has deteriorated compared with a year ago. In September 2004, consumer confidence was a robust 103.4.

The confidence barometer provides a glimpse of consumers' attitudes in the aftermath of Katrina, which barreled into the Gulf Coast last week, spreading death and destruction.

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