US consumer confidence retreats in June from 6 year high

U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly in June from May's six-year high as Americans felt worse on current financial conditions, according to a consumer sentiment index released on Friday. The final reading of the consumer sentiment declined to 84.1 in June from 84.5 in May, the highest since July 2007, the monthly Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index showed. However, the figure is better than the preliminary reading of 82.7 in the first half of June. The recent decrease in stock prices and a surge in borrowing costs are believed to have contributed to the decrease of the index. The component of the index reflecting Americans' perceptions of their financial situation and whether they consider it a good time to buy big-ticket items like houses or cars dipped to 93.8 in June from 98 in May. But the index's component gauging consumer expectations for six months from now, which more closely projects the direction of consumer spending, climbed to 77.8 in June from 75.8 in May, the highest since last November. Consumer sentiment gives signals about spending, which makes up about 70 percent of the U.S. economy. With the sentiment at a six-year high in May, the U.S. retail sales rose 0.6 percent from April, the fastest rate in three months. The index averaged 64.2 during the last recession from December 2007 to June 2009, and was at 89 in the five years leading up to the recession. Survey results of consumer gauge are released twice each month, one preliminary and the other final.