According to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, consumer confidence has fallen sharply, even lower than what economists predicted. The study's "index reading of confidence for February tumbled to 56.2 from 61.2 in January"—which is even worse than the reading in November "when U.S. stocks hit 11-year lows during one of the worst periods of the current financial crisis." (A median of 61 points was expected.) Plus another reading finds that consumer expectations are at the lowest level since May 1980 and about two-thirds of people think the recession will last five more years.