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- Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index tumbled 6.7 points to 81.9 in September from 88.6, missing economist forecasts of a slight rise to 89 and hitting the weakest headline reading since April 2014.
- The Expectations Index fell 5.9 points to 63.6 — its third consecutive monthly decline — with the Conference Board attributing the slide to sharp gains in interest rates and pump prices.
- Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said consumer appraisals of current business conditions turned negative for the first time since September 2024.
- Perceptions of the current labor market also worsened, though remained in positive territory, and consumers expected both business conditions and labor market conditions to weaken over the next six months.
- Consumers still anticipated their household incomes to rise, but less so than in previous months, the Conference Board reported.
Why it matters: The 6.7-point drop to 81.9 — the weakest reading since April 2014 and far below the 89 economists expected — shows the bite of higher rates and pump prices is hitting households hard, with consumers themselves now expecting business conditions and the labor market to weaken over the next six months.
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