Confidence among US consumers fell this month to the lowest level in five years as Americans worried about jobs, record gasoline prices and falling home values.
The Conference Board's confidence index fell to 62.3, a smaller decline than forecast and the lowest since March 2003, from a revised 65.9 in March, the New York-based research group said today. A separate report showed property prices in February tumbled the most on record.
Shrinking home equity, mounting job losses and soaring food and fuel prices are causing Americans to retrench contributing to a slowdown in growth that some economists have called a recession.
Federal Reserve policy makers may lower interest rates again tomorrow to try to stabilize financial markets and shore up consumer and business confidence.
Home prices in 20 US metropolitan areas fell in February by the most since record-keeping began in 2001, a sign the housing recession is deepening, a private survey showed earlier today.
Falling home prices leave Americans with less equity to tap for buying expensive items like automobiles or appliances.
The Conference Board's measure of present conditions dropped to 80.7 in April from 90.6.
The share of consumers who said jobs are plentiful fell to 16.6 per cent, the fewest since September 2004, from 19.2 per cent last month. Those saying jobs are hard to get increased to 27.9 per cent from 24.5 per cent.
The proportion of people who expect their incomes to rise over the next six months decreased to 15.1 per cent, the fewest since records began in 1967. The share expecting more jobs rose to 9 per cent from 8 per cent.