• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, August 10, 2011

While online sales are booming, jumping 14% in the second quarter to $37.5 billion, turmoil in the financial markets is already having a significant impact on consumer sentiment.

"Consumer perceptions of the economy had been improving moving into August," comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni says in a webcast to present the company's latest research. "But our latest shows a major change. Between the end of July and our polling this week, the number of Middle Americans rating the economy as poor jumped to 64%, from 58%." He adds that among Middle Americans, which it defines as those earning between $50,000 and $99,999, unemployment and job security was the chief economic concern in July. But by this week, worries about the financial markets nearly doubled to 36%, from 21%.