The Conference Board News Release (04/24/12)

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index barely budged in April following a slight drop in March, coming in at 69.2. The Expectations Index, meanwhile, slipped from 82.5 to 81.1, and the Present Situation Index rose from 49.9 to 51.4. Consumers had mixed feelings about the job market, with a drop in those believing jobs are “hard to get” from 40.7% to 37.5% and a decline in those believing jobs are “plentiful” from 9% to 8.4%. As for the labor market outlook during the next six months, the percentage of consumers expecting job growth slipped from 17.4% to 16.9%, and those predicting fewer jobs fell from 18.5% to 18%.