Moving budget date hits confidence

Moving the budget to October has hit the consumer confidence index as households prepare to enter 2014 unsure how their finances will be affected.

Confidence fell in November as consumers held off making large purchases due to a dip in how well-off householders believe they will be in 2014.

The ESRI’s Kevin Timoney said that although the ERSI/KBC consumer sentiment index has slipped five points from to 71.0, from 76.2 in October, the average over the last three months remained positive, up 1.4.