US Consumer Confidence Unchanged In March

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined sharply last month, was virtually unchanged in March standing at 88.3. In February the Index fell to 88.5.

The Present Situation Index rose to 84.1 from 83.3. The Expectations Index dipped slightly to 91.0 from 91.9.

Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center: “While consumers claimed business conditions were more favorable in March than last month, they also claimed jobs were less readily available.

“The labor market not only continues to dampen consumers' present-day spirits, but it is also making them less optimistic about the short-term outlook.”

Consumers' optimism about future conditions continues to diminish. Those expecting business conditions to improve in the next six months dipped to 19.3 percent from 19.5 percent. Consumers expecting conditions to worsen was unchanged at 9.6 percent.

The Conference Board says in its report that consumers' assessment of current conditions is more favorable today than last month. Those claiming business conditions improved increased to 20.7 percent from 19.3 percent.

Those claiming conditions have worsened was almost unchanged at 23.3 percent. Consumers claiming jobs are "hard to get" increased to 30.0 percent from 28.9 percent. But those saying jobs are "plentiful" rose slightly to 14.7 percent from 14.5 percent.