U.S. Consumer Confidence Edges Modestly Lower In May

(RTTNews) - Consumer confidence in the U.S. saw a modest deterioration in the month of May, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index dipped to 93.1 in May from an upwardly revised 93.8 in April.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to edge down to 92.0 from the 92.8 originally reported for the previous month.

"Consumer confidence edged downward in May as the inflationary impacts of the war in the Middle East intensified," said Dana M Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board.

The report said the present situation index, which is based on consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, also slid to 121.2 in May from 124.4 in April.

Meanwhile, the expectations index, which is based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, rose to 74.4 in May from 73.4 in April.

"Consumer appraisals of current business conditions and the current labor market were moderately less positive compared to last month," said Peterson.

She added, "This was somewhat offset by modest improvements in consumers' expectations for business conditions and the labor market six months from now."

A separate report released by the University of Michigan last Friday showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than previously estimated in the month of May.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for May was downwardly revised to 44.8 from a preliminary reading of 48.2. Economists had expected the index to be unrevised.

With the unexpected downward revision, the consumer sentiment index is down sharply from 49.8 in April, hitting its lowest reading on records going back to 1952.