Consumer confidence fell in September as pessimism about the economy increased, The Conference Board Inc., a New York-based research organization, reported Sept. 28.
The September index stands at 48.5, down from 53.2 in August. The baseline for the index, set in 1985, is 100. Consumer confidence had improved slightly last month after following a somewhat erratic pattern of rising throughout the spring months, then falling in June and July.
In the latest measurement, the index fell to its lowest level since February, when it stood at 46.4. In May the index stood at 62.7.
A healthy economy registers 70, which consumers last reflected in December 2007. The index hit an all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009.
United Kingdom-based TNS conducts the monthly Consumer Confidence survey of 5,000 randomly selected U.S. households. The cutoff date for this month’s survey was Sept. 21.
“September’s pull-back in confidence was due to less-favorable business and labor-market conditions, coupled with a more-pessimistic short-term outlook,” Lynn Franco, Conference Board consumer research director, said in a statement. “Overall, consumers’ confidence in the state of the economy remains quite grim. And with so few expecting conditions to improve in the near term, the pace of economic growth is not likely to pick up in the coming months.”
Consumers saying business conditions are “bad” increased to 46.1% of respondents from 42.3% in August, while those claiming business conditions are “good” declined to 8.1% from 8.4%. The percentages of respondents claiming jobs are “hard to get” rose to 46.1% from 45.5%, while the percentage claiming that jobs are “plentiful” decreased to 3.8% from 4%.
The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to worsen over the next six months rose to 16.4% from 13.4%, while the percentage who believes business conditions will improve fell to 14.9% from 16.9%.
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