POLL: Confidence Still Slumping; Expectations Match Record Low

After two weeks of improvement, consumer confidence stalled while expectations for the future matched their lowest level.

The ABC News Consumer Comfort Index stands at -31 on its scale of +100 to -100, gaining 6 points in the previous month but still mired at -30 or lower for the seventh consecutive week, the longest stretch since 1993.

In a separate monthly measure of expectations, 68 percent say the economy's getting worse, while 3 percent say it's improving. That ties the record low for economic optimism set in 1990 and marks the biggest gap between positive and negative expectations since late that year.

These negative indicators came as oil pushed past $110 a barrel last week, with gas prices at $3.28 a gallon, the highest since the energy shocks of the early 1980s. The credit crunch continues, with the Federal Reserve funneling $200 billion in short term cash loans to banks.

INDEX - The ABC News CCI is based on Americans' ratings of their current finances, the national economy and the buying climate. This week 53 percent rate their personal finances positively, traditionally the strongest of the three measures, 4 points below the long-term average in weekly polls since late 1985.

Only 21 percent rate the national economy positively, down 10 points since the beginning of the year and the seventh straight week that it's below 25 percent, the longest period since 1993. Twenty-nine percent say it's a good time to buy things. It's been at or below 30 percent for 10 weeks, again, the worst streak since 1993.

EXPECTATIONS - As noted, 3 percent think the economy's getting better, matching the lowest level of optimism in ABC News polls; the last time positive expectations were this low was in October 1990, during the 1990-91 recession.

Sixty-eight percent say the economy's getting worse, matching the recent low in November. That number has been above 60 percent for five straight months, an unprecedented period since the survey began in 1981. The highest was 77 percent in October and November 1990, while the lowest was 12 percent in January 1985.

Source: www.abcnews.go.com