Tuesday April 24, 10:04 am Eastern Time
Consumer Confidence Erodes Again
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clouding growing hopes that the slumping U.S. economy was set for a swift recovery, a key barometer of consumer confidence tumbled again in April as deteriorating business conditions and worries about job security soured the more upbeat mood which prevailed in March, a survey showed on Tuesday.
Underpinning hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again at its May 15 policy meeting, the Conference Board, a New York-based private research group, said its broad gauge of consumer attitudes slid sharply to 109.2 in April from a downwardly-revised March reading of 116.9, its sixth tumble in seven months. Consensus forecasts were for a fall to 112.0.
The economic outlook for the next six months, which helped to boost the index in March, fell to 78.2 in April from a downwardly-revised 83.1 in March, suggesting that 2.0 percentage points worth of interest rate cuts from the Fed so far this year had not yet reversed growing consumer pessimism. The present situation index tumbled nearly 12 points to 155.6 from an upwardly-revised 167.5 in the prior month.
``Deteriorating business conditions and a less favorable job market are the two critical reasons for the latest decline in confidence. It's clear that consumers have begun to worry about employment trends and these concerns are gnawing away at consumer confidence,'' said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.
The Conference Board's index is compiled from a representative sample of 5,000 households each month. The April drop followed a surprisingly sharp dip in the preliminary April University of Michigan sentiment index, released mid-month.
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