Consumer confidence in the future has sunk to a disturbing 12-year low. The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index has cratered to a frightening 65.2. This is all great, but unfortunately, this figure is far from the 80. Typically, economists view this as an ominous sign that a recession is lurking just over the horizon. Confidence has fallen through the floor. This plummet is a welcome counterbalance to the Conference Board’s index of current conditions, which as of March has fallen for four consecutive months.
Against this backdrop of economic worries, the stock market managed modestly positive movement on Tuesday. The winner The S&P 500 The large-cap index added 0.16%, bringing the index’s winning streak to three consecutive days. Similarly, the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.46%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed practically unchanged, adding just 4.18 points, or 0.01%.
GameStop seems to be making aggressive attempts to pivot its business. CEO Ryan Cohen is at the helm, taking an aggressive position with a fresh crypto acquisition. This unexpected decision is emblematic of Cohen’s crusade to revive the ailing retail giant. Amazon is similarly going all-in on artificial intelligence. It’s particularly zeroing in on generative AI technologies to expand its capabilities in this rapidly evolving arena.
In technological advancements, Google Quantum AI's director of hardware, Julian Kelly, has made a significant prediction about the future of computing. Kelly stated that a quantum computer capable of running practical applications beyond the reach of today's machines is only five years away. This comes on the heels of Google’s unexpected and thrilling announcement last December. In July, they announced a major breakthrough that cleared the path toward truly functional quantum computers.