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Confidence falls

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 30, 2008

New York — U.S. consumer confidence took another dive in March, falling nearly 12 points to 64.5 on a key index, the Conference Board reported last week.

The research firm's Consumer Confidence Index was down from 76.4 in February and remained at its lowest in five years, since it hit 61.4 in March 2003 as the Iraq war was starting.

March 18 was the cutoff date for the latest monthly survey of 5,000 U.S. households.

Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said the Present Situation Index fell from 104 in February to 89.2 in March, while the Expectations Index declined from 58 to 47.9.

"The decline in the Present Situation Index implies that the pace of growth in recent months has weakened even further," Franco said. "Looking ahead, consumers' outlook for business conditions, the job market and their income prospects are quite pessimistic and suggests further weakening may be on the horizon.

"The Expectations Index, in fact, is now at a 35-year low (December 1973, 45.2), levels not seen since the oil embargo and Watergate," she said.

Looking at present conditions, consumers saying current conditions are "bad" grew to 25.4% in March from 21.3% in February, while those opting for "good" declined to 15.4% from 19.1%. Those saying jobs are "hard to get" rose to 25.1% in March from 23.4% in February, while those claiming jobs are "plentiful" decreased to 18.8% from 21.5%.

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