Consumers’ perception of the economy plays as vital a role in shaping market activity as hard economic data, as consumers will want to know whether the economy is on solid footing before they make a major financial decision (such as buying a home).  The latest report on Consumer Confidence from the nonprofit Conference Board—based on…

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While the uncertainty of the government shutdown is now more than a week behind us, consumer outlook on the economy has shown little improvement, per the latest index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan. In the latest index, consumer sentiment was reported at a near record low of 51; for reference, 100 is…

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