Consumer Confidence: Bad Sign for Holidays

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Consumer confidence fell unexpectedly in September, a bad sign heading into the holiday season.

The Conference Board announced that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 53.1 in September from 54.5 in Augusts. Economists had expected a reading of 57.

"While not as pessimistic as earlier this year, consumers remain quite apprehensive about the short-term outlook and their incomes," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement. "With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is not very encouraging news."

Consumers' measure of the present situation fell to 22.7 from 25.4, while the expectation index, which measures consumers' outlook over the next few months, dropped to 73.3 from 73.8 last month.

On Monday the International Council of Shopping Centers said it actually expects sales during the traditional holiday period -- between November and December -- to grow 1%.

For the most part shares of retailers held onto their morning gains. Macy's(M Quote) jumped 1.5% to $18.23, Tablots (TLB Quote)grew 4% to $9.59, Ralph Lauren(RL Quote) spiked 5% to $77.91 and GameStop(GME Quote) grew 2% to $26.80.

In the drugstore sector, Walgreen(WAG Quote) soared 10% to $37.61, Rite Aid(RAD Quote) was up 2% to $1.61 and CVS Caremark(CVS Quote) increased 3% to $35.94.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York

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