After improving in August, The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index dipped in September and now stands at 53.1 (1985=100), down from 54.5 in August, according to preliminary results of The Consumer Board's latest Consumer Confidence Survey, released Sept. 29.
According to the survey's preliminary findings, The Present Situation Index declined to 22.7 from August's measure of 25.4 and The Expectations Index dropped to 73.3 from 73.8 last month.
"Consumer confidence, which had improved in August, retreated slightly in September. The Present Situation Index decreased, as consumers viewed both current business conditions and the labor market less favorably than last month," says Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "While not as pessimistic as earlier this year, consumers remain quite apprehensive about the short-term outlook and their incomes. With the holiday season quickly approaching, this is not very encouraging news."
Compared with August, consumers' assessment of current conditions was less favorable in September. Those claiming business conditions are "bad" increased to 46.3% from 44.6%. The percentage of those claiming conditions are "good" also increased, but only slightly, from 8.5% to 8.7%.
Other findings:
- Consumers are less optimistic about the job market than they were a month ago. The percentage of respondents claiming jobs are "hard to get" increased to 47.0% from 44.3%, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 3.4% from 4.3%.
- Another sign of pessimism was evident in consumers' short-term outlook. Respondents anticipating that business conditions would improve over the next six months decreased to 21.3% from 22.2%. Those expecting conditions to deteriorate decreased to 15.0% from 15.2%.
- The outlook for the labor market outlook was virtually unchanged. The percentage of respondents reporting that they expect to see more jobs in the months ahead dipped slightly, from 18.0% to 17.9% from 18.0%, and those expecting fewer jobs ahead remained the same at 23.1%.
- The percentage of consumers expecting their incomes to increase rose slightly, from 10.8% to 11.2%.
About the data: The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 US households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. September 22 was the cutoff date for September's preliminary results.
