US consumer confidence roughly flat in March

NEW YORK (AP) – Americans’ rosy outlook about the US economy remains resilient as they focus on the good in the barrage of conflicting economic news.

A widely watched barometer of consumer confidence barely budged in March after last month hitting the highest level it had been in a year. Americans continued to be upbeat in March despite mixed economic signs. The stock market is up, but gas prices are, too. Unemployment is falling, but home prices also are declining.

Lynn Franco, director of private research group The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said consumers “feel the economy is not losing momentum.”

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index fell slightly to 70.2. That’s down from a revised 71.6 in February — the highest level it’s been since the same month in 2011.

Consumer confidence has made a recovery since it fell to an all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009. But the March reading is below the 90 reading that indicates a healthy economy. The index hasn’t been near 90 since December 2007.

Economists watch consumer confidence closely because Americans’ spending on things from clothing to health care accounts for about 70 percent of the nation’s economic activity.

One gauge of the Consumer Confidence Index, which measures how shoppers feel now about the economy, rose to 51.0, from 46.4 in the previous month.