(ACSI: Ann Arbor, Michigan) -- Customer satisfaction continues on a bumpy path without momentum or trend in the second quarter, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. After a small uptick last quarter, ACSI slips 0.1 percent to 75.1 on a 100-point scale. The ACSI second quarter report forecasts consumer spending will remain weak with growth of no more than 2.3 percent in the third quarter. “The American consumer has long been the single biggest force propping up the United States and the global economy,” says professor Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI at the University of Michigan. “But declining customer satisfaction combined with weaker demand for U.S. exports may make it difficult for American households to shoulder the burden of being the locomotive for world economic growth.” Every second quarter, ACSI features the annual measurement of the manufacturing durable goods sector and e-business category of web sites, including automobiles, personal computers, major appliances, portals and search engines, and news and information web sites. Detroit loses ground Hit with record losses, U.S. auto manufacturers are also suffering from slumping customer satisfaction. No domestic car maker is represented among the top four nameplates, but the bottom three in the industry are all U.S. brands. Yet, customer satisfaction for the industry as a whole remains at an all-time high (unchanged at 82), and one U.S.

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