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Empresas y finanzas

U.S. consumer confidence up: report


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - ABC News reported on Tuesday that while its weekly measure of U.S. consumer confidence reversed course after hitting nearly a four-month low last week, the gauge is still struggling to dig out of 2009 lows after its worst year on record.

    The ABC Consumer Comfort Index edged up to -49 for the week ended February 28 from -50 in the prior week.

    The -50 reading marked the first time in almost four months the index has dipped to that level, which has been reached only 25 times -- 23 of those in the last 16 months.

    The index first hit its all-time low of -54 in the week to December 1, 2008, and then again in the week to January 25, 2009.

    The average reading of -48 in 2009 is the index's worst on record since the survey began, and it has not been on positive ground since March 2007.

    ------POSITIVE VIEWS ON-------

    NATIONAL PERSONAL BUYING W/E CCI ECONOMY FINANCES CLIMATE ------------------------------------------------ 2/28 -49 8 44 242/21 -50 8 43 242/14 -49 8 44 242/7 -48 8 47 231/31 -49 9 45 221/24 -48 8 47 231/17 -49 9 45 231/10 -47 9 46 241/3 -41 9 51 2812/29 -44 8 47 2912/22 -42 7 50 3012/13 -45 7 47 2912/6 -47 8 44 28

    The ABC News consumer confidence survey was based on a sample of about 1,000 interviews conducted in the four weeks ending February 28 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

    (U.S. Treasury desk; Tel: 646-223-6300)