Rally in consumer confidence fading quickly

While the spring stock market rally seems indefatigable, this attribute is definitely not shared by the spring rally in consumer confidence, as both well known measures of the mood of the consumer have now posted multi-month declines, the latest dim view of things coming via the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.
Ongoing worries about job losses and declining home values resulted in the sentiment index falling from 66.0 in July to 63.2 in the first of two readings for August, well below consensus estimates. Apparently consumers have not yet heard that the recession is all but over...