Consumer Confusion

Consumer confidence is up a tick in January, according to the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Survey, which is the granddaddy of all these surveys. Although it's not usually reported this way, because the numbers don't actually represent anything, the number stands at 55.9, up from 53.6 in December.

But one thing you can keep in mind is that the standard, based on where consumer confidence registered in 1985, is 100. Now, 1985 was a pretty good year, as we had fully emerged from the recession in the early part of that decade, but it's kind of sad to think we're barely halfway as confident as we were back then.

Where we are at this point, in 2010, is in a bit of a muddle. The number of respondents who said business conditions were good increased in January; unfortunately, so did the number of respondents who said business conditions were bad. The number of people expecting there to be fewer jobs in the months ahead decreased, but the number of people expecting there to be more jobs in the months ahead also decreased. The bottom line is: Consumers don't know what to expect from this economy.