Consumer Confidence at 7-Month Low in Oct By Eric Burroughs NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumers turned gloomier in October, beset by soaring energy costs, relentless violence in Iraq, sluggish hiring and an increasingly bitter presidential campaign. The Conference Board's gauge of consumer confidence fell to 92.8 in October, the lowest in seven months, from 96.7 in September, the private business group said on Tuesday. The reading was below economists' expectations for a dip to 94.0. The main index was dragged down mainly by the consumer expectations component, which tumbled to 92.0 from 97.7. The current conditions index slipped to 94.2 from 95.3. "Consumers are more concerned about the future than they are about current conditions, and I think that has a lot to do with the high oil prices we're seeing and probably some of the election rhetoric," said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons in St. Louis. In one slightly positive sign, 27.8 percent of consumers surveyed said jobs were "hard to get," down a touch from 28.0 percent a month before. Nearly 34 percent had said employment was hard to find a year ago. Despite strong economic growth, businesses are cautious about hiring workers while faced with record-high oil prices and steep health care costs. "While consumers' assessment of the labor market showed a moderate improvement, the gain was not sufficient to ease concerns about job growth in the months ahead," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said in a statement. Markets mostly ignored the confidence data, as major stock indexes gained more than 1 percent mainly on a rebound in battered insurance shares. Analysts and traders scrutinize consumer confidence gauges for hints on the outlook for spending, which drives two-thirds of the U.S. economy. Households have consistently shopped for homes, cars and other goods despite worries over the economy, with low interest rates fueling borrowing, but some economists worry that weak hiring could undermine spending by debt-laden consumers. Low mortgage rates helped boost existing home sales 3.1 percent in September to the third-highest pace on record, according to a report on Monday.     Continued ... Quelle "Consumer Confidence at 7-Month Low in Oct" : reuters.com Main page for "Consumer Confidence at 7-Month Low in Oct"