If the Case-Shiller Index has you feeling down (like home prices), the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index might give you reason to feel a bit better.  It seems to have picked up the spirits of the markets.  The index is now at 54.9.  That's up from 40.8 in April.  Lynn Franco is the director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, and she puts this number in context:

After two months of significant improvements, the Consumer Confidence Index is now at its highest level in eight months (Sept. 2008, 61.4). Continued gains in the Present Situation Index indicate that current conditions have moderately improved, and growth in the second quarter is likely to be less negative than in the first. Looking ahead, consumers are considerably less pessimistic than they were earlier this year, and expectations are that business conditions, the labor market and incomes will improve in the coming months. While confidence is still weak by historical standards, as far as consumers are concerned, the worst is now behind us.

Read the Conference Board's release here.