Home | China | World | Business U.S. Consumer Confidence Slips WED, FEB 27, 2002     U.S. consumer confidence index slipped in February after rising for last two months, but consumer spending will push the economy toward recovery, a research group said Tuesday. The Conference Board, one of the U.S. leading business research groups, reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 94.1 in February from a revised 97.8 in January. The index jumped more than 10 percent in December and 3.4 percent last month. "While confidence has weakened from January's level, both components of the index still point to healthy consumer spending in the months ahead," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "The consumer will continue to provide solid spending support as the economy moves into recovery." The survey also reported that the Expectations Index decreased from 97.6 to 93.6 in February, while the Present Situation Index declined from 98.1 to 94.8 this month. Consumers were less optimistic about economic prospects six months from now. Those expecting an improvement in business conditions fell to 22.0 percent from 24.9 percent in January. Those anticipating conditions to worsen rose to 11.3 percent from 9.8 percent. Consumers' assessment of current economic conditions was less favorable in February, the survey said. The percentage of consumers who rated current business conditions as "good" sank from 18.2 percent last month to 17.2 percent, while consumers rating conditions as "bad" grew from 22.4 percent to 22.9 percent. The percentage of consumers claiming jobs were "hard to get" inched up from 22.5 percent to 22.8 percent in February. Those reporting the jobs were plentiful fell from 18.4 percent in January to 17.8 percent. As for the employment prospects, 19.3 percent of respondents expect fewer jobs to become available over the next six months, up from 18.0 percent in January, while those expecting more jobs to become available decreased from 18.9 percent last month to 18.4 percent. The Conference Board index, based on a monthly survey of some 5,000 U.S. households, is closely watched as a key barometer because consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economic activities. After the report was released, the stock markets fell into the negative territories, with the Dow index losing more than 100 points and the Nasdaq composite declining about 1 percent in early trading. Editor:Zhong Source:Xinhua Recommend to your friend email:    China Central Television,All Rights Reserved