consumer confidence

A private research group says Americans' confidence in the economy unexpectedly improved in September.

The reading still hovers near an historic 16-year low.

Commerzbank's purchase of German rival Dresdner Bank AG will cost thousands of jobs, but analysts said Monday it will benefit insurer Allianz SE, which agreed to sell Dresdner over the weekend in a 9.8 billion euros ($14.44 billion) deal.

Shareholders appeared to agree, sending the Munich-based insurer's shares slightly higher in Frankfurt trading on Monday to 114.42 euros ($168.60), or up 0.28 percent.

Moderating declines in home sales offered a measure of hope to Wall Street on Tuesday, as did a rise in consumer confidence in August.

Consumer confidence in Europe's biggest economy declined for a fourth month in a row, sliding to another five-year low as lower energy prices failed to bolster Germans' likelihood of buying new goods, a report released Tuesday found.

The stock market is taking another major hit today after consumer confidence numbers came in well below expectations.

The Conference Board, which measures the monthly consumer confidence number, reports that June’s number fell to 50.4%, down from 57% in May.

Big investors had been anticipating consumer confidence numbers in the 56% or 57% range. But those are just numbers – the real questions what are they telling us?

And what does that mean for the technology sector. The answer to the first question is easy. Americans are absolutely terrified about rising energy prices.

With the cost...

U.S. consumers are the gloomiest they've been since the tail end of the last prolonged recession. Inflation, sinking home values and soaring gas prices have pushed confidence to the lowest level since 1992.

Consumers' view of the economic future has never been lower, raising worries that already weak consumer spending could deteriorate further.

German consumer confidence slipped unexpectedly in June, as rocketing gasoline prices and other cost increases caused consumers to worry about their purchasing power, according to a closely watched survey Tuesday.

Analysts warned of a possible slowdown in Europe's biggest economy.

StreetInsider Trading Radar: Intraday or Not Specified: Economics: 10 AM ET

• Consumer Confidence for May - Street expects 61.0, compared to 62.3
• New Home Sales for April - Street expects 520K, compared to 526K

After Market Closes: Earnings: Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) - consensus loss of $0.47, revs $801.11M Jamba (Nasdaq: JMBA) - consensus loss of $0.12, revs $101.28M Subscribe to EasyStockAlerts and get real-time e-mail alerts when news hits your stocks!

Stocks tilted to a lower open Tuesday ahead of a report that's expected to show another decline in consumer confidence this month.

The Conference Board, a private business research group, releases its April survey of consumer confidence at 10 a.m.

EDT. The consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR is 62, slipping from March's 64.5 reading amid rising prices for energy and food.

Economists' latest estimates ranged from 58 to 65.

This past week was another challenging sequence of trading sessions for investors. Consumer confidence came in around 62, at its lowest level in 26 years, and the Royal Bank of Scotland suffered an 11 billion dollar writedown due to the US subprime mortgage crisis.