Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Rick Faurot]

US Consumer Confidence Tumbles in August
Tue Aug 31, 2004 10:06 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence fell sharply in August, breaking four straight months of gains, as a slowdown in job growth creation and rising oil prices weighed on sentiment.
The Conference Board, a private forecasting group, said its measure of consumer sentiment fell to 98.2 from a revised 105.7 in July. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a fall to 103.5

The present situation index fell to 100.7 from 106.4, while the expectations index fell to 96.6 from 105.3.

The percentage of consumers who said jobs were hard to get was little changed at 25.8 percent, compared with 25.7 percent in July. But consumers saying jobs are plentiful decreased to 18.1 percent from 19.7 percent.

"The level of consumer optimism has fallen off and caution has returned," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center said in a statement. "Until the job market and pace of hiring picks up, this cautious attitude will prevail."

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.