National, World, Business News

The morale of U.S. households rose slightly in August after two months of decline, according to the index of the employers' organization Conference Board released Tuesday.

This index thus amounted to 53.5 in August against 51.0 (revised from 50.4) in July. Analysts polled by Reuters expected at 50.5.

The expectations index stood at 72.5 against 67.5 (revised from 66.6) in July.The evaluation index of the prevailing market conditions fell to 24.9, its lowest level since February, against 26.4 (revised from 26.1) the previous month.

The proportion of those who find a job is hard to find rose to 45.7%, down from 45.1% to think that a month earlier, while the people thinking it is easy gain employment fell 3.8% against 4.4% the previous month.

• No real improvement in unemployment in August
• The U.S. economy created more jobs than expected
• No job creation in the United States in August, unemployment stable at 9.1%
• Consumer prices up 0.5% in February
• Acceleration in job creation in the U.S.