There's good news and bad news. On the bright side, University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment rose from 87.2 in September to 90.0 in October, the first bounce in 4 months. On the not so bright side, the 90 final print is a significant drop from the 92.1 preliminary read (especially in light of equity's ongoing exuberance). Inflation expectations (short- and long-term dropped). The biggest driver of the bounce from September was, of course, hope - Future Conditions rose from 78.2 to 82.1 - while current conditions only rose from 101.2 to 102.3 (plunging from 106.7 prelim). Not as awesome as it seems... *CURTIN SAYS CONSUMERS HAVE LOWER ASPIRATIONS TO SPEND *CURTIN: LONG-TERM INFLATION EXPECTATIONS MATCH RECORD LOW *MICHIGAN'S CURTIN SENTIMENT GAIN LED BY LOWEST INCOME GROUP *CURTIN SAYS CONSUMERS AWARE INCOMES WILL REMAIN CONSTRAINED Bounce, but not much.. Expectations of higher incomes dropped to 4 months lows, and fewer respondents believe interest rates will rise in the next 12 months. And then Curtin unleashed the following... *CURTIN SAYS `DISINFLATIONARY MINDSET' IS TAKING HOLD *CURTIN SAYS CONSUMERS CHANGED `YARDSTICK' IN MEASURING PRICES *CURTIN SAYS CONSUMERS DEMANDING DISCOUNTS IN ORDER TO SPEND *MICHIGAN'S CURTIN SAYS CONSUMERS DISAPPOINTED WITH DISCOUNTS *CURTIN SAYS INFLATION YARDSTICK NOW SIMILAR TO 1950S/1960S *CURTIN SAYS ANY INCREASE IN INFLATION WILL HARM CONSUMERS With a final warning... *CURTIN: FED NEEDS TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT BOTH SIDES OF INFLATION Charts: Bloomberg