Consumer Confidence for March 2008 | 30F 5.875%

Consumer Confidence | Reported 64.5 | Est 75.0 | Prior 75.0 | MODEST

Consumer Confidence for March 2008 suggests that families are locking down the check books for a little while longer.  The 64.5 number is the largest decline on 5 years.  An interesting bit of information about the portion of the survey that measures consumer’s outlook on the future, it’s at a 35 year low!  This report is yet another piece of negative economic data to kindle the recession talk.  Unfortunately, with continued turmoil in the mortgage market, FNMA bond prices have not been able to hold the +40bp gains this morning.  The FNMA 30 bond is trading +18bp current.