Consumer confidence cooled in October

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/7/2006 12:34:00 PM

New York -- Consumer confidence subsided slightly during October after making a big run up the month before, as Americans continued to fret about the jobs market and current business conditions, The Conference Board reported.

After jumping up by 5.7% in September as gas prices came down, confidence levels waned by 0.5% during October, slipping to a reading of 105.4, down from 105.9 the month before.

"Consumers' short-term expectations posted a slight improvement, but the outlook for the labor market remains mixed," said Lynn Franco, director of the business think tank's Consumer Research Center.

Consumers claiming conditions are “bad” rose to 17.1% from 15.6% a month ago. At the same time, the number who said conditions are “good” rose slightly, to 28.1% from 27.3%.

In a key bellwether of future consumer spending, consumers' views of the labor market were less positive. The number who said jobs are “plentiful” declined to 25.8% from 26.2%, while the number who said jobs are “hard to get” climbed higher to 22.0% from 20.9%.