Debate’s Effect on Sentiment

The University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 54.9 (the lowest level since the recession of ‘81)! This reading is, I think, a result of the corrosive debt ceiling debate; not due to chronic problems like high unemployment and the poor economy. If I am right, the index will largely bounce back next month to the anemic levels we have been enjoying for quite some time; between 60 and 70.