The Latest Consumer Report

September's consumer confidence report posted the biggest drop since the start of the year, as Americans’ expectations for the economy and the job market deteriorated. Both the present situation and expectations gauges declined, with the latter dropping to the lowest level since January.

Some of the findings:

• Confidence among those earning $125,000 or more a year suffered the largest one-month decline since April 2015.
• The share of consumers who see business conditions getting worse six months from now climbed to the highest level since November 2013.
• The share of those respondents who say incomes will increase six months from now dropped from 25 percent to 19 percent, the lowest since January.
• Buying plans for motor vehicles, homes and major appliances also declined in September.