The confidence of Americans in the U.S. economy tumbled into negative territory last week for the first time this year as their economic outlook soured.
Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index was negative-1 for the week ending Oct. 15, down seven points from the previous week.
Last week's drop in Americans' overall confidence was largely driven by a more negative than usual assessment of the direction in which the economy is headed.
“This could be related to the recent report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which found a loss of 33,000 jobs in September after a series of damaging storms in Florida, Texas and elsewhere. Although the same report found the unemployment rate at a 16-year low, consumers may have been alarmed by the report of job losses. The drop last week could also be related to other factors and could represent a short-term shift that could quickly reverse course -- as it did when the index reached zero in a July weekly average,” Gallup explained.
“If that bad news about jobs proves temporary, confidence is likely to recover -- particularly if the stock market continues to maintain its recent gains. However, as is clear from the 2008-2016 trend, there is plenty of room for confidence to go lower should November bring a second consecutive month of discouraging labor news,” Gallup explained.
Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they feel the economy is improving or getting worse. The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 if all Americans were to say the economy is doing well and improving, and a theoretical minimum of -100 if all were to say the economy is doing poorly and getting worse.
However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 23,000-mark for the first time on Tuesday.
The blue-chip index has surpassed four similar 1,000-point milestones this year, indicating investor faith in the bull-run despite lofty stock valuations, Reuters reported.
For his part, President Donald Trump cheered the landmark. ""Dow Passes 23,000 for the First Time, Fueled by Strong Earnings," he tweeted.
To be sure, Trump is continuing to publicly comment on Twitter about the recent bull stock market.
He also has recently touted gains the overall market has made, "record business enthusiasm":
"The U.S. has gained more than 5.2 trillion dollars in Stock Market Value since Election Day! Also, record business enthusiasm," he tweeted Monday.
And Friday he touted a CNBC story claiming: "Consumer confidence soars to highest level since 2004."
(Newsmax wires services contributed to this report).
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