NEW YORK, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The Consumer Confidence Index in October fell more than 14 points to 79.4, its lowest level in nine years and its fifth consecutive monthly decline, the Conference Board said Tuesday.
The group said its index, which uses 1985 as a base of 100, fell 14.3 percentage points from its 93.7 level for September, rattling the financial markets and indicating that the holiday season will be less than festive.
"A weak labor market, the threat of military action in Iraq, and a prolonged decline in the financial markets have clearly dampened both consumers' confidence and their expectations for the near future," says Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.
"The outlook for the holiday retail season is now fairly bleak. Without the likelihood of a pickup in consumer spending, an already weak economic recovery could weaken further," she added.
The Present Situation Index fell to 77.5 from 88.5, and the Expectations Index declined to 80.7 from 97.2. Consumer Confidence is now at its lowest level since November 1993, when it stood at 71.9.
The assessment by consumers of the present situation turned notably more negative. Those rating current business conditions as "bad" increased to 27.6 percent from 23.8 percent. Those rating current conditions as "good" decreased to 15.6 percent from 18.5 percent. Consumers reporting jobs are hard to get rose to 27.3 percent from 25.4 percent last month. Those claiming jobs are plentiful declined to 14.8 percent from 15.9 percent in September.
Consumers' expectations for the next six months fell in October. The percent of respondents expecting deterioration in business conditions in the next six months rose to 14.1 percent from 9.7 percent. Consumers expecting conditions to improve declined to 19.0 percent from 21.6 percent.
Consumers expecting conditions to improve declined to 19.0 percent from 21.6 percent. The employment outlook was also less favorable in October. Consumers anticipating more jobs to become available dropped to 15.0 percent from 17.3 percent, while those expecting fewer jobs in the coming months rose to 22.1 percent from 16.8 percent.
Income expectations were also more pessimistic. Now, only 17.8 percent of consumers anticipate a rise in their incomes, down from 21.5 percent in September.
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 NFO WorldGroup.
