U.S.: Consumer confidence down, retail sales up

On the basis of the survey of Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan; consumer sentiment in March decreased by an extent, has not seen since the beginning of the financial crisis.

U.S. consumer confidence index decreased to 68.2 points from the 77.5 points of February. Such an extent (9.3 point) reduction has not occurred since October 2008, since the bankruptcy of the Lehman Brothers. The March figure completely surprised analysts, who expected a decrease of only to 75.8 points.
The Good news is that the U.S. retail sales in February rose by 1 percent, while the annual growth is 8.9 percent – reports ProfitLine.hu.