"...woman said these jobs are going boy, and they a'int coming back..."
Consumer Confidence Falls Again in Sept.Tue Sep 28, 2004 11:53 AM ET
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By Dena Aubin
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence edged lower again in September after falling in August, as persistent worries about the job market weighed on sentiment, a report on Tuesday said.
The Conference Board, a private forecasting group, said its index of the mood of U.S. consumers fell to 96.8 from a revised 98.7 in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a rise to 99.0.
Consumer worries about the labor market have clouded the outlook for consumer spending, which powers two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Soaring oil prices, which crimped spending in the second quarter, pose another threat to economic growth.
"Confidence in the state of the economy is diminished and within that, confidence on job prospects is the biggest factor," said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp. "I would guess that the impact of higher oil prices is feeding through as well. The problem with energy prices is that when they rise, there's nowhere to run."
The percentage of consumers surveyed who said jobs were hard to get rose to 28.3 percent from 26.0 percent, while those seeing jobs as plentiful fell to 16.8 percent from 18.4 percent.
"The recent declines in the index were caused primarily by a deterioration in consumers' assessment of employment conditions," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said. "Soft labor market conditions have clearly taken a toll on consumer confidence."
posted by Richard at
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
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