Consumer Confidence Cools

Consumer confidence cooled last week from an almost eight-year high as Americans took a less favorable view of their finances and the economy.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to 46.6 in the period ended April 12, from the prior week's 47.9 reading that was the strongest since May 2007. The economic expectations gauge for April declined for a second month.

The comfort index's outlook gauge for April fell to 50, a five-month low, from 51.5. The share of households saying the economy is improving held at 30 percent and equaled the fraction believing its weakening.

The Bloomberg weekly comfort gauge remains well above last year's average of 36.7, which was the best since 2007.

Among its three components, the measure of personal finances fell to 58.4 last week from 60.5. The index of Americans' views on the state of the economy dropped to 37.7 from 39.5. A gauge of the buying climate, showing whether this is a good time to purchase goods and services, was little changed at 43.7 compared with 43.8 the prior week.

Moods improved for Americans at the top of the wage scale and worsened for those at the bottom. The comfort gauge for workers earning $100,000 or more climbed to 71.9, its second-highest level since August 2007. For the under $50,000 category, it fell to 34.5 last week from 36.1. The 37.4-point gap is the second-biggest between the groups so far this year.