Consumer confidence in the United States was worse than expected in January, according to a survey from the Conference Board released Tuesday.
The U.S. Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to a new all-time low of 37.7 in January, following December's upwardly revised 38.6, which was the previous all-time low. Economists had expected the survey to rise to 39.0 in January.
The present situation component continued to fall to 29.9 from December's 30.2 reading, while the expectations component declined to 43.0 from 44.2 in December.
"The minor change in the Present Situation Index suggests that economic conditions did not deteriorate significantly further in January but, on the other hand, they did not improve either," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. "Looking ahead, consumers remain quite pessimistic about the state of the economy and about their earnings. And, until we begin to see considerable improvements in the Expectations Index, we can't say that the worst of times are behind us."
One-year inflation expectations fell to 5.6% from the previous month's 5.8% reading. In June and July, the inflation index peaked at 7.7%.
The closely watched labour differential between jobs 'hard to get' and jobs 'plentiful' declined to -33.9 in January from -35.0 in December. One year ago, the differential was 3.2.
Just 6.4% of participants said present labour conditions are good, while nearly 47.9% said conditions are bad.
Those anticipating business conditions to worsen over the next six months fell to 31.1% from 32.9%, while those expecting conditions to improve declined to 13.3% from 13.4% in November.
The outlook for the labour market was mixed compared to last month. The percentage of consumers anticipating fewer jobs in the months ahead fell to 36.7% from 40.6%, while those expecting more jobs fell to 9.4% from 9.8%. The proportion of consumers anticipating an increase in their incomes fell to 10.0% from 12.7%.
Economists had anticipated an improvement given the stabilization and small improvements in household confidence seen in the University of Michigan confidence survey.
By Stephen Huebl and edited by Nancy Girgis
©CEP News Ltd. 2009