Already low, consumer sentiment dips

Consumer sentiment dipped in June, another sign of the economic slowdown. Current consumer sentiment is at levels near where it was during the worst of the 1982 and early 1990s recessions.

Today's early release of the Reuters/University of Michigan Survey of Consumers for June indicated a worsening of consumer sentiment with a reading of 71.8 falling 5.53% below the level seen last year while one year inflation expectations declined to 4%.

The Index of Consumer Expectations (a component of the Index of Leading Economic Indicators) declined to 66.8, and the Current Economic Conditions Index declined to 79.6.

It's important to recognize that while consumer sentiment is higher than the panic laden trough level seen in late 2008, the current sentiment level is still far lower than any level seen during the 2001 tech recession and roughly equivalent to the worst seen during the early 1990s and second dip 1982 recessions.