The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined in September, deteriorated further in October and now stands at 47.7 (1985=100), down from 53.4 in September, the Conference Board announced.

The Present Situation Index decreased to 20.7 from 23.0 in September—its lowest reading in 26 years (Index 17.5, Feb. 1983), according to Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

The Expectations Index, meanwhile, declined to 65.7 from 73.7 in September.

"Consumers' assessment of present-day conditions has grown less favorable, with labor market conditions playing a major role in this grimmer assessment," Franco said. "The short-term outlook has also grown more negative, as a greater proportion of consumers anticipate business and labor market conditions will worsen in the months ahead."

"Consumers also remain quite pessimistic about their future earnings, a sentiment that will likely constrain spending during the holidays," Franco pointed out.

Additional findings issued by the Conference Board:

• Consumers' assessment of current conditions worsened in October: Those claiming business conditions are "bad" increased to 47.1% from 46.3%, while those claiming conditions are "good" decreased to 7.7% from 8.6%.
• Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was also bleaker: Those claiming jobs are "hard to get" increased to 49.6% from 47.0%, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 3.4% from 3.6%.
• Consumers' short-term outlook grew more pessimistic in October: Those anticipating an improvement in business conditions over the next six months decreased to 20.8% from 21.3%, while those expecting conditions to worsen increased to 18.3% from 14.6%.
• The labor market outlook was also more negative: The percentage of consumers expecting more jobs in the months ahead declined to 16.3% from 18.0%, while those expecting fewer jobs increased to 26.6% from 22.9%; also, the proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes decreased to 10.3% from 11.2%.

About the CCI: The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by custom research company TNS. The cutoff date for October's preliminary results was October 21.