A leading indicator of how consumers are feeling dipped again in July.

The Conference Board just reported that its widely watched consumer confidence index slipped to 46.6 from 49.3 in June. It also declined in June from May.

The research group adds that:

Overall, consumers remain quite pessimistic about the short-term outlook. The percent of consumers anticipating an improvement in business conditions over the next six months decreased to 18% from 20.9%, however, those expecting conditions to worsen decreased to 18.9% from 20.4%.