The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had retreated in June, declined further in July. The Index now stands at 46.6 (1985=100), down from 49.3 in June. The Present Situation Index decreased to 23.4 from 25.0 last month. The Expectations Index declined to 62.0 from 65.5 in June.

The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. The monthly survey is conducted for The Conference Board by TNS. TNS is the world's largest custom research company. The cutoff date for July's preliminary results was July 21st.

Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center: "Consumer confidence, which had rebounded strongly in late spring, has faded in the last two months. The decline in the Present Situation Index was caused primarily by a worsening job market, as the percent of consumers claiming jobs are hard to get rose sharply. The decline in the Expectations Index was more the result of an increase in the proportion of consumers expecting no change in business and labor market conditions, as opposed to an increase in the percent of consumers expecting conditions to deteriorate further. However, more consumers are pessimistic about their income expectations, which does not bode well for spending in the months ahead."

Consumers continued to rate current conditions unfavorably in July. Those saying business conditions are "bad" increased to 46.3 percent from 45.3 percent, however, those saying conditions are "good" increased to 9.1 percent from 8.1 percent. Consumers' assessment of the labor market deteriorated further. Those claiming jobs are "hard to get" increased to 48.1 percent from 44.8 percent, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 3.6 percent from 4.5 percent.

Overall, consumers remain quite pessimistic about the short-term outlook. The percent of consumers anticipating an improvement in business conditions over the next six months decreased to 18.0 percent from 20.9 percent, however, those expecting conditions to worsen decreased to 18.9 percent from 20.4 percent.

The labor market outlook was also mixed. The percentage of consumers expecting more jobs in the months ahead decreased to 15.0 percent from 17.5 percent, however, those expecting fewer jobs decreased to 26.3 percent from 27.6 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes declined to 9.5 percent from 10.1 percent.