US confidence takes a dip

Weak November report comes as the year- end holiday shopping season gets under way

US consumer confidence, which plummeted in October amid the partial government shutdown, continued to slide in November, a closely watched report said yesterday.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 70.4 in November from an upwardly revised 72.4 in October, depressed by growing concerns about the job market and personal incomes.

“When looking ahead six months, consumers expressed greater concern about future job and earning prospects, but remain neutral about economic conditions,” Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at the Conference Board, said in a statement. “All in all, with such uncertainly prevailing, this could be a challenging holiday season for retailers.”

The November figure was a bit gloomier than expected, with analysts on average predicting the index would rise to 72.4 in November following an initial estimate of 71.2 in October.

“This is mildly disappointing; we had hoped for a very modest post- shutdown increase, but the hit to sentiment seems to be lingering,” said Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.

The weak report came as the year- end holiday shopping season gets underway. Retailers depend on the season that unofficially starts on Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday.