Overview

• The Conference Board’s index dropped 3.6 points to 94.2, the lowest since April and below the roughly 96.0 economists expected.
• The expectations subindex slid to 73.4, under the 80 level often viewed as a warning of elevated recession risk.
• The present situation gauge declined to 125.4 as views on current business conditions weakened.
• Assessments of job availability fell for a ninth straight month to a new multi‑year low, according to Conference Board economist Stephanie Guichard.
• The share saying jobs are plentiful eased to 26.9% while the “hard to get” share held at 19.1%, and the report arrived as a possible federal shutdown threatened a temporary data blackout.