WASHINGTON — American consumers felt less confident this month, but the small retreat came after confidence had risen to a 20-month high in September.þþConsumer confidence slipped to 98.6 this month after rising to 103.5 in September, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. The September reading was the highest since confidence stood at 103.8 in January 2015. The September confidence number was revised down from an initial estimate of 104.1, which had been the highest in nine years.þþThe lower October reading reflected a drop in consumers' assessment of current business conditions and employment prospects.þþEven with the small decline, consumer confidence was still at a level expected to support consumer spending and economic growth in coming months.þþThe October decline reflected decreases in both consumers' view about current conditions and their future expectations.þþThe number of consumers saying business conditions at present were ÿgoodÿ decreased moderately from 27.7 percent to 26.2 percent while those saying business conditions were ÿbadÿ rose from 15.8 percent to 17.7 percent.þþTheir assessment of the labor market was also less positive, with those believing jobs were ÿplentifulÿ dropping from 27.6 percent to 24.3 percent although those who believed jobs were ÿhard to getÿ declined slightly to 22.1 percent from 22.3 percent in September.þþEconomists said the October decline puts the Conference Board's take on confidence more in line with other confidence readings, including the University of Michigan survey.þþÿWe read the October data as suggesting that household confidence has corrected after the outsized increase in the previous month,ÿ Blerina Uruci of Barclays said in a research note.þþAndrew Hunter, U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said the October reading from the Conference Board was still consistent with solid growth in consumer spending at an annual rate above 2.5 percent.
Source: NY Times
