We’ve got to play the hand we’ve been dealt, and, today, before the more
fortunate among us head for the shore, the hand we’ve been dealt is the
University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment index for July.

Around 9:55 a.m. EDT, we are expected to learn that the final reading of the
UMich sentiment index for July is unchanged from the 64.6 reported for
mid-July.

As always, it is amusing to me that, in this survey, a month is whatever the
University of Michigan deems it to be. Today is July 24, a full seven days
before the month ends on Friday, July 31.

So we’re given what are marketed as July numbers with one week missing, plus
another two or three days if one allows for the time needed to collate the data
and educe conclusions from the numbers.