|
NOBODY
expects to hear good news out of Europe
for some time to come, but the data on the
US continues to cause confusion as to whether
the country is on the path to recovery or
not.
For
the shipping industry this uncertainty over
the US, which remains the single largest
importer of containerised goods in the world,
is no doubt cause for concern. While Europeˇ¦s
economic woes certainly do no favours for
the shipping lines, its poor performance
is a sure bet, which at least allows one
to plan accordingly.
The
US is another matter altogetherˇK
Let's
look at some of the data that has been released
recently.
Consumer
confidence in the US rose to a four-and-a-half
year high in November, according to independent
business research group, The Conference
Board.
"Over
the past few months, consumers have grown
increasingly more upbeat about the current
and expected state of the job market, and
this turnaround in sentiment is helping
to boost confidence," The Conference Board
Consumer Research Centre director, Lynn
Franco, said in a statement released by
the organisation.
Thomson
Reuters and the University of Michigan survey
for the month of November revealed a similar
result with the consumer confidence index
rising to 82.7 points, representing an increase
of 29.8 per cent year on year.
In
the latest North American issue of the Global
Port Tracker report, jointly published by
Hackett Associates and the National Retail
Federation, its author notes that the Thomson
Reuters-University of Michigan survey also
revealed a 41.3 per cent year-on-year increase
in consumer expectations.
It
also mentioned that the outlook for unemployment
was the ˇ§most favourableˇ¨ since 1984.
"All
told, it's positive news," the report
said, citing increases in sales, new orders
and housing start-ups as evidence of the
positive market mood. But that was November,
and oh what a difference a month can make.
In
December consumer confidence was apparently
down again.
Thomson
Reuters and the University of Michigan said
in their preliminary reading of their monthly
index that consumer sentiment "plunged"
to 74.5 in early DecemberˇXthe lowest level
since August, the Huffington Post reported.
This
is a significant decline from the 82.7 point
figure recorded in November.
Page 1 2 [Next]
|
