Confidence among U.S. consumers has seen a substantial deterioration in the month of July, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday.
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The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 90.9 in July, a 10-month low. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions fell slightly to 107.4 from 110.3, but their outlook for the future dropped sharply to 79.9 this month from 92.8 in June.
The outlook for the labor market was also less optimistic, as consumers anticipating more jobs in the months ahead dropped to 13.1 percent from 17.1 percent and those anticipating fewer jobs rose to 20.0 percent from 15.2 percent. An early read of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for July showed a decline from June’s level as negative headlines from overseas seemed to weigh on consumer sentiment. Strong job and income growth have buoyed consumers but the Greek debt crisis and China’s stock market plunge have hurt US stocks.
The June figure was originally reported at 101.4.
The percentage of consumers describing current business conditions as “good” slipped to 26.1 percent from 24.2 percent. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” decreased from 21.3 percent to 20.7 percent and those claiming jobs are “hard to get” increased marginally from 26.1 percent to 26.7 percent.
As far as why this would have included China and Greece, the cutoff date for the preliminary results was July 16.
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The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen around what consumers buy and watch.
