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Consumers Upbeat in Jan. But Jobs Scant NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence improved in January but Americans were still having a tough time finding work, according to a report published on Tuesday. The Conference Board, a private research firm, said its index of confidence jumped to 96.8 in January from a revised 91.7 in December. Wall Street analysts had forecast a rise to 96.3. "Growing optimism about the overall health of the economy continues to bolster consumers' short-term outlook," said Lynn Franco, director of research at the Conference Board. "But consumers' assessment of current conditions, which strongly hinges on improvements in the labor market, remains both weak and volatile," she added in a statement. The number of consumers saying jobs were hard to get dipped in January to 31.4 percent, better than December's 32.4 percent but still worse than a year ago. The proportion saying jobs were plentiful also edged down, to 12.4 percent from 12.6. "Consumers are still worried about the employment situation," said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis, Missouri. Stocks inched lower while Treasury bonds edged higher on the news, partly because analysts thought the confidence data did not bode well for next week's government payrolls report. U.S. consumers' view of the future improved, taking the expectations component to 108.1 from 103.3, and the present situation index climbed to 80.0 from 74.3. Rising optimism about the economy sent people out shopping and pumped up chain store sales, a separate report on Tuesday showed. Sales rose 1.1 percent in the week ended Jan. 24, up from a 0.7 percent fall in the previous week, the International Council of Shopping Centers and UBS said in their joint report. Sales for the week grew 4.4 percent compared with the previous year, up from the preceding week's 3.9 percent pace. According to Redbook's tally of retail performance, the pace of sales grew by 3.9 percent on a year-over-year basis for the week ended Jan. 24, up a bit from 3.4 percent the preceding week, the report said. Sales so far in January were up 0.2 percent when compared with December.
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