Consumer confidence drops
Gas costs, job worries weighing on shoppers
NEW YORK -- Consumer confidence slid in June as Americans began to worry that high gas prices and a slumping housing industry may be undermining the health of the job market.
The New York-based Conference Board said yesterday its consumer confidence index, meant to measure how shoppers feel about the economy , fell to its lowest level in almost a year.
At the same time, the Commerce Department said new home sales dropped in May, the fourth monthly decline in the past five months.
Both pieces of the economic puzzle dropped into a market that is already concerned about inflation, interest rates, and economic growth ahead of a two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve that begins today. The Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady at 5.25 percent, but investors are watching for clues about future moves.
The New York-based Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index fell almost 5 points to 103.9, down from a revised 108.5 in May, reaching the lowest level since August 2006 when the reading was 100.2. Analysts had expected a reading of 106.
The Commerce Department reported yesterday that sales of new single-family homes fell in May by 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 915,000 units. U S home prices fell for a fourth consecutive month in April, with all regions showing the effect of the housing slowdown, according to the figures in a housing index released yesterday by Standard & Poor's.
