US consumer confidence falls in August, Conference Board says

Aug 25 (Reuters) - U.S. ‌consumer confidence ​fell ​in August to its lowest in seven months as households' outlooks for ‌the labor market and inflation worsened, a ⁠survey showed on Tuesday.

The Conference Board said its ‌consumer confidence index dropped ‌to 89.4 this month - the lowest since January - from an downwardly revised 90.2 in ​July. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the index at 90.2 versus an originally ⁠reported 90.8 in July.

The decline was led by a 7.8% ​slide in the expectations index, offsetting the first improvement in households' views of ​the current situation in ‌four months.

"Consumers were more pessimistic about business conditions and the labor ⁠market over the next six months," said Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board.

The report's ⁠so-called jobs differential index, measuring the gap between respondents ​who say jobs are plentiful versus those who say the are hard to find, rose for the first ‌time in three months from a July reading that was the ‌lowest in more than five years.

Consumers saw ⁠inflation accelerating over the ‌next 12 months ​to 5.8% from 5.6% in July.

(Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by Chizu ‌Nomiyama)

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