NEW YORK—Consumer confidence dipped again in December, with the index now standing at 65.1, down from 71.5 in November.
The second consecutive monthly decline was likely due to consumers’ concerns about the oncoming fiscal cliff, said Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, for which Nielsen conducts the monthly Consumer Confidence Survey. A similar decline occurred in August 2011 during the debt ceiling discussions, she added.
However, she added, “While consumers are quite negative about the short-term outlook, they are more upbeat than last month about current business and labor market conditions.”
Consumers who said business conditions are “good” rose to 17.1 percent from 14.6 percent in December, while those stating that business conditions are “bad” decreased to 27.3 percent from 31.2 percent.