US consumer confidence fell for a second month in a row in April, as Americans said their economic lot had improved.
But they grew more wary about what the future might hold.
"Overall, consumers are more upbeat about the state of the economy, but they remain cautiously optimistic," said Lynn Franco of The Conference Board, which publishes a widely watched indicator of sentiment.
"Consumer confidence was virtually unchanged in April, following a modest decline in March."
The Board said its consumer confidence index dipped 0.3 points to 69.2 in April.
Consumers' views of the current economy improved but expectations about the future weakened, amid concern that the Europe's debt crisis and high oil prices could set back the US recovery. Confidence had also dipped in March.
US new home sales fell in March
Seperate figures today showed that sales of new homes in the US dropped 7.1% in March from February's surprise spurt, but were still on a pace of a slow, but steady increase from last year.
Buyers snapped up new single family houses at an annual pace of 328,000 units, a drop from February's prediction-beating 353,000, but nearly the same as January.
The figure was also 1.2% higher than the average for the final quarter of 2011 - evidence that sales are growing but not at a pace hoped for given that mortgage rates have been at all-time lows for some eight months.
The number of homes for sale on the market was also roughly the same level as the last quarter of last year, at 5.3 months of supply.
The average price of houses sold in March was $234,500, up from the 2011 average of $227,200.
