Confidence falls to 10-month low

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/26/2007 1:25:00 PM

New York -- Americans are starting to sense that current business conditions are weakening and feeling it’s getting tougher to find a job -- driving their confidence level down to its lowest level in 10 months, The Conference Board reported.

The bellwether Consumer Confidence Index, widely viewed as a strong guide to future consumer spending and retail sales, fell by 4.2% in June to a reading of 103.9, giving up the gain it made the month before when it rebounded from earlier weakness to a level of 108.5.

The June reading was the weakest since August 2006, when it stood at 100.2.

Weighing in on current conditions, the number of consumers who said conditions are good fell to 27.4% from 29.0% in May. There was a corresponding increase in the number who said conditions are bad, 16.4% vs. 14.6% a month ago.

Consumers also turned more negative about the job market, with the number who said jobs are hard to get rising to 21.1% from 19.7% in May. The number who said jobs are plentiful fell to 27.0% from 29.1%.