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Yonkers, NY (PRWEB) May 09, 2012 The Consumer Reports Index , a gauge of overall consumer financial health, showed Americansretail spending declined for the fourth straight month despitesignificant improvements in sentiment, employment, stress andfinancial difficulties. The Consumer Reports Indexs overall sentiment measure rosesubstantially this month, to 50.6 from the 44.6 the prior month.This jump marked the measures highest point in over two years.Sentiment climbed significantly for the most pessimistic consumers,those in households earning less than $50,000, as well as forwealthier Americans earning at least $100,000, who have trendedmore optimistic for some time now. This is the most positive showing for the economy since September2011 and these broad gains may point to some real improvements. Itwill be interesting to see if this trends into the coming months,said Ed Farrell, director of market research at the ConsumerReports National Research Center. Despite the positive upturn in sentiment, retail activity continuedto slide. The Consumer Reports Indexs past 30-day retail measurefell slightly to 10.6 from 11.3 last month and has yet to regainits footing since the holidays. Looking ahead to planned activityin the next 30 days, which includes the Memorial Day sales weekend,the next 30-day retail measure was virtually unchanged at 8.3 from8.0 the prior month. In addition to a rise in confidence, the Consumer Reports Indexstrouble tracker declined sharply this month, dropping to 44.8 from54.5 in Aprilits lowest level in 12 months. The trouble trackerposted its greatest declines among Americans in households earningless than $50,000 and adults with a college education or more. The Consumer Reports Indexs employment measure crept into positiveterritory this month (50.5), up from last month (49.3). This gainis not a reflection of a surge in job creation, with job startsthis month (5.3%) below last month (5.8%), but rather a decline injob loss, which dropped from last months recent high of 7.1% to4.4%. Pacing the improvement in sentiment and declines in financialdifficulties measures, the Consumer Reports Indexs stress measuredropped to 56.3 from 64.3 last monthwhich was its highest readingsince September 2009. Unless employment demonstrates a marked upturn, it is unlikely thatconsumers will feel secure enough to return to their past spendinghabits to fuel notable growth in the retail numbers, Farrell said. The Consumer Reports Index report, available at , comprises five key measures: the Sentiment Index, the TroubleTracker Index, the Stress Index, the Retail Index and theEmployment Index. The Consumer Reports Index, conducted by the Consumer ReportsNational Research Center, is a monthly telephone and cell phonepoll of a nationally representative probability sample of Americanadults. A total of 1,008 interviews were completed (758 telephoneand 250 cell phone) among adults aged 18+. Interviewing took placebetween April 26 and April 29. The margin of error is +/- 3.2percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The complete indexreport, methodology and tabular information are available. Contact:C. Matt Fields 914-378-2454 or cfields@consumer.org. MAY 2012 © 2012 Consumer Reports. The material above is intended forlegitimate news entities only; it may not be used for advertisingor promotional purposes. Consumer Reports® is an expert,independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for afair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empowerconsumers to protect themselves. We accept no advertising and payfor all the products we test. We are not beholden to any commercialinterest. Our income is derived from the sale of ConsumerReports®, ConsumerReports.org® and our other publicationsand information products, services, fees, and noncommercialcontributions and grants. Our Ratings and reports are intendedsolely for the use of our readers. Neither the Ratings nor thereports may be used in advertising or for any other commercialpurpose without our permission. Consumer Reports will take allsteps open to it to prevent commercial use of its materials, itsname, or the name of Consumer Reports®. Read the full story at releases/2012/5/prweb9488515.htm . The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Disposable Syringes , China Infusion Bag, and more. For more , please visit Disposable Syringes today!
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