• Go to the Conference Board's home page:

1. What has happened to the consumer confidence index in the past few months?
2. Why is consumer confidence and important indicator?What is the likely effect of the change in consumer confidence on the economy?
3. What has happened to expectations of business executives over the past few months?Do the consumer confidence and business executive expectations match? If not, what do you expect business actions will be in the next few months?Think about hiring plans, production plans, inventory levels, and investment in new production or new productivity tools?