Consumer spending accounts for 2/3 of US economic activity. The consumer confidence index is the tool for predicting future spending. That index has fallen from 111.9 (last July) to 57.2 (May) to 50.4 (June), the lowest level since February 1992. The story is here.

Bloomberg reports that the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index dropped 15.3 percent from a year earlier, after a 14.3 percent decline in March. The gauge has fallen every month since January 2007.