NEW YORK, Aug 27: US consumer confidence fell sharply in August as Americans rated current economic conditions as the worst in nearly eight years, according to a report on Tuesday that suggested consumer spending could grow sluggishly in coming months.

The Conference Board, a business-backed research group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 93.5 in August — its lowest level since November 2001 — from 97.4 in July. Analysts had expected the index to come in at 97.0. The decline in confidence was driven by a plunge in the current conditions index to its lowest level since October 1994 at 92.0, down from 99.4 in July.

“Consumer spending is not likely to gain momentum any time soon,” said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board’s Consumer Research Centre. But she said the current level of consumer expectations is consistent with “a continued, but slow, economic expansion.”

The expectations index, a gauge of consumers’ six-month outlook, fell to 94.5 in August from 96.1 in July. The survey found that the number of respondents saying that jobs were hard to get was unchanged at 23.9 per cent, indicating that the labour market has yet to improve during the economy’s uneven recovery.

Economists have worried that falling confidence could cause consumers to retrench on spending and tip the economy back into recession. But in recent months, consumers have continued to spend freely, with autos sales robust in July and new home sales hitting a record.

—Reuters