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Consumer Confidence in U.S. Fell to Lowest Since August 2011, Caused By Less Optimisim in Labor Market

Jul 29, 2015 05:12 AM EDT | By Jean-Claude Arnobit

Consumer confidence has declined in July, following an improvement last month, due to less optimistic short-term outlook, especially in the Labor market, according to a press release by The Conference Board.

The Consumer Confidence Index is at 90.9, its lowest since August 2011, down from the 99.8 it posted in June.

Bloomberg reported that the data that came out was lower than the most pessimistic forecast among the economists that it surveyed.

Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board said in the press release that, though, consumers "assess conditions favorably", their "short-term expectations" dropped in July.

"A less optimistic outlook for the labor market, and perhaps the uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets prompted by the situation in Greece and China, appears to have shaken consumers' confidence," she said.

Data shows that consumers who says that jobs are "plentiful" decreased from 21.3 percent to 20.7 percent, while the number of people who claim that jobs are "hard to find" increased marginally from 26.1 percent to 26.7 percent, according to the press release.

Optimism in the job market doesn't look good either.

Consumers anticipating more jobs to come their way have decreased from 17.1 percent to 13.1 percent, while those who expect the jobs to lessen have increased from 15.2 percent to 20 percent, according to the press release.

Bloomberg added that pay increase for workers, which barely exceeded inflation, have limited household sentiment about their financial situation.

This indicates that consumers are less likely to spend.

"It's a bit of a surprise and may prove a little erratic," David Sloan, a senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York, told Bloomberg. "If the stock market's weakness, recently, extends further, a turnaround might be harder. But energy prices have slipped and that could give some support to consumers."

The press release also mentioned that the monthly Consumer Confidence Survey is conducted by Nielsen, a leading provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch.

The cutoff date for the preliminary results was July 16. 

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