US consumer confidence dropped to a 16-year low this month, a level that has historically signalled recession.

The Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment fell 11 per cent for early February to 69.6, compared with the previous month - the lowest level since February 1992.

"Past declines of this magnitude have always been associated with subsequent recessions," said Richard Curtin, the director of the survey.

Households of all incomes and age groups appear to have been hit, with half of consumers anticipating falling real incomes and higher unemployment this year.

The report "indicates an accelerating downturn", said Brian Bethune, an economist at Global Insight. "It doesn't look like a gradual letting the air out of the balloon right now."

Eighty-six per cent of consumers said they believed the US was in recession, the highest proportion since 1982, when the US was in the middle of its worst postwar economic slowdown.

"Year-ahead prospects for the national economy were . . . [ at] a level comparable to the worst level in the recessions of the early 1990s and 1980s," said Mr Curtin.

However, he said there is "still reason to expect a rather short and mild downturn".

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, told US lawmakers this week that the central bank was ready to act "as needed" to address risks to growth.