WASHINGTON — The deepening economic crisis caused the consumer confidence index to hit a record low of 38, compared with 61.4 in September, the Conference Board reported today.
The decline represented the third largest drop in the 41-year history of the study by the New York City-based research organization.
The board's present situation index, which measures consumer assessment on current conditions, fell from 61.1 to 41.9. The expectations index fell from 61.5 to 35.5.
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"Looking ahead, consumers are extremely pessimistic, and a significantly larger portion than last month foresees business and labor markets worsening," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's consumer research center.
Consumers characterizing business conditions are "bad" increased to 38.3% from 33.4%, while those saying business conditions are "good" declined to 9.2% from 12.8%. The percentage of consumers who said jobs are "hard to get" rose to 37.2% from 32.2% in September, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 8.9% from 12.6%.
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