By Regan McCarthy
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-984128.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – Consumer confidence in Florida is dropping. A University of Florida report now pegs the level at three points above the state's all time record low. Regan McCarthy reports experts say that means the state could be nearing a recession.
Consumer confidence in August dropped to 62. The number had been up slightly in July following the national debt ceiling debate. Now Director of the university's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, Chris McCarty says several factors are bringing consumer confidence down.
"We have the post debt ceiling discussion and the stock market has just been going back and forth in part related to that and in part related to some economic news and what's been happening in Europe."
McCarty says he doesn't expect the confidence level to sink to the record low it hit in 2008. Still he says a drop in consumer confidence can signal the start of a recession or the deepening of a recession already underway.