After rising for two years, U.S. consumer satisfaction dipped in the third quarter because of higher food prices, according to a poll by the University of Michigan released on Tuesday.
BOSTON (Reuters) - After rising for two years, U.S. consumer satisfaction dipped in the third quarter because of higher food prices, according to a poll by the University of Michigan released on Tuesday.
The American Consumer Satisfaction Index declined 0.1 percentage point to 75.2 from the previous quarter on a 100-point scale, although it was still 1 percentage point higher than a year earlier.
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Claes Fornell, a University of Michigan professor who conducts the survey, said it could bode ill for retail sales during the key December holiday selling season.
"One wonders if consumers will continue to surprise us, as they have in the past, with being able to get more credit and spend it over the Christmas holiday," he said. "We don't think so ... It looks like consumer spending will not be as strong as it was last year."
The index is based on a survey of about 20,000 people in the United States during the third quarter.
