Confidence among U.S. consumers unexpectedly fell in January to a record low as job prospects remained dim. The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence fell to 37.7, from a revised 38.6 in December, the New York-based private research group said today. Records began in 1967. Measures related to Americans’ views on incomes deteriorated. Caterpillar Inc. and Home Depot Inc. were among companies yesterday that said they will cut at least 74,000 workers from payrolls in coming months as sales drop and the recession deepens. President Barack Obama is trying to drum up support for quick passage of a stimulus plan that aims to create jobs, cut taxes and boost infrastructure spending. “The consumer is being squeezed on so many sides,” Douglas Smith, chief economist for the Americas at Standard Chartered Bank in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re going to have to see some turn in the labor market before we see much upside for consumer confidence.” Economists forecast confidence would rise to 39, from a previously reported 38 for December, according to the median of 70 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from 35 to 45. Housing Slump An earlier report today showed home prices fell 18.2 percent in November from a year earlier, the biggest drop since records began in 2001, according to figures from S&P/Case- Shiller that cover 20 metropolitan areas. All the regions were down in the 12 months to November, led by a 33 percent slump in Phoenix and a 32 percent slide in Las Vegas. Stocks surrendered earlier gains following the confidence report. The S&P 500 index was little changed at 836.27 at 10:11 a.m. in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.61 percent from 2.64 percent late yesterday. Obama’s administration will direct more of the second half of a $700 billion financial rescue plan to open up credit for consumers and businesses and stem home foreclosures, his spokesman said yesterday. The president has asked his economic advisers for recommendations “specifically addressing home foreclosures, addressing financial stability in banks,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a briefing. Meanwhile, lawmakers are debating an $825 billion package of tax cuts and new federal spending that the president hopes will be passed by the middle of next month. Growing Pessimism A gauge of Americans’ view about the current economic environment dropped to 29.9 from 30.2. The Conference Board’s measure of the outlook for the next six months decreased to 43 from 44.2 in December. Today’s report showed the share of consumers who said their incomes were likely to increase over the next 6 months fell to 10 percent, the lowest on record. Perceptions on the current state of the job market climbed from December levels. A gauge of whether jobs are plentiful rose to 7.2 from 6.5, while the proportion of people who said jobs are hard to get decreased to 41.1 percent from 41.5 percent. “Consumers remain quite pessimistic about the state of the economy and about their earnings,” Lynn Franco, director of the group’s consumer survey, said in a statement. “We can’t say that the worst of times are behind us.” Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of bulldozers and excavators, said yesterday it’s cutting 20,000 jobs and this year’s profit and sales will trail analysts’ estimates. The jobs include 12,000 employees, or 11 percent of the workforce, and 8,000 contractors, spokesman Jim Dugan said. Recession Deepens The U.S. recession, which began in December 2007, has so far cost 2.6 million jobs and is already the longest in a quarter century. The world’s largest economy probably contracted at a 5.5 percent annual pace from October through December, the biggest drop since 1982, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of Commerce Department figures due Jan. 30. Consumer spending, the largest part of the economy, is forecast to have dropped at a 3.5 percent pace last quarter after slumping at a 3.8 percent rate the previous three months. It would be the first time purchases declined more than 3 percent in consecutive quarters since records began in 1947. “We are in the midst of a global economic crisis,” Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s vice chairman and future chief executive officer, Mike Duke, told employees of the world’s largest retailer yesterday. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart said this month that fourth-quarter profit will miss its forecast and predicted revenue in January will be little changed. Harley Cuts Jobs Fourth-quarter profit at Harley-Davidson Inc., the biggest U.S. motorcycle maker, dropped 58 percent and the company said Jan. 23 it plans to cut 1,100 jobs and close three facilities. The company declined to project earnings for this year and said it’s reducing shipments by as much as 13 percent to prevent excess inventory. “We are certainly not immune to the current economic conditions,” Chief Executive Officer Jim Ziemer said in a conference call Jan. 23. Retail sales this year may drop 0.5 percent, the first decline in at least 14 years, according to a forecast today by the National Retail Federation. The group made its first projection, which excludes autos, gas stations and restaurants, in 1995.

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