Consumer confidence in the American economy slipped to its lowest level in nine years during October.

The private research group the Conference Board reported today that its Consumer Confidence Index declined for the fifth straight month amid growing concerns over war and the economy.
The index fell from a revised September showing of 93.7 to 79.4 in October, way below what many analysts were forecasting.
Newport Communications Senior Economist Jim Haughey says the lower number is not truly indicative of how consumers may react the remainder of the year.
"The confidence index trails actual behavior, so weakness indicates the late summer buying lull," he says. "Fourth quarter consumer spending is expected to improve slightly at the malls but may ebb slightly from near record levels for houses and cars. Much of this decline is mostly due to all of the bad news --sniper, overseas terrorist attacks, etc. -- and this will have only a fleeting impact on spending since income keeps rising."
The board's Present Situation Index fell to 77.5 from 88.5, and the Expectations Index declined to 80.7 from 97.2. Consumers' assessment of the present situation turned notably more negative.
Those rating current business conditions as "bad" increased to 27.6% from 23.8%. Those rating current conditions as "good" decreased to 15.6% from 18.5%. Consumers reporting jobs are hard to get rose to 27.3 % from 25.4 % last month. Those claiming jobs are plentiful declined to 14.8% from 15.9% in September.
Consumers' expectations for the next six months fell in October. The percent of respondents expecting deterioration in business conditions in the next six months rose to 14.1% from 9.7%. Consumers expecting conditions to improve declined to 19.0% from 21.6%.
Consumers expecting conditions to improve declined to 19.0% from 21.6%. The employment outlook was also less favorable in October. Consumers anticipating more jobs to become available dropped to 15.0% from 17.3%, while those expecting fewer jobs in the coming months rose to 22.1% from 16.8%. Income expectations were also more pessimistic. Only 17.8% of consumers anticipate a rise in their incomes, down from 21.5% in September.
The Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households.