If expectations are more important than the assessment of current conditions, than there's substantially more bad news than good news in April's consumer confidence report. The overall index fell nearly 3 points to a lower-than-expected 101.3 reflecting a steep and nearly 6-point decline in the expectations component to 68.1 as the outlook for business conditions as well as employment and income all deteriorated.

Details include noticeable declines in those who see more jobs opening up six months from now and those who expect their incomes to fall. Six-month buying plans reflect the damage: autos are down, homes are down, as are plans to buy major appliances.

But now the good news! The present situation component rose more than 2 points to 151.1 as fewer say jobs are hard to get: 11.1 versus March's 11.4 percent, and more say jobs are plentiful, at 48.4 versus 47.9 percent. These readings will help limit downward forecasts for next week's April employment report.

The topping in interest rates is a general positive but expectations for weakening income is not in what is an uncertain outlook for the consumer. Though this report came in below Econoday's consensus range, new home sales (also released at 10:00 a.m. ET) came in above the forecast range and leave Econoday's Consensus Divergence Index very near the zeroline, at minus 3 to indicate that US economic data on net are coming in as forecast.

The consumer confidence index has been steady and subdued, at 104.2 in March with April seen at 104.0.

The Conference Board's confidence report surveys consumers on their assessments of the labor market, business activity, and their own financial conditions. The survey is conducted by Toluna, an online community platform. (Conference Board and Toluna)

The pattern in consumer attitudes and spending is often the foremost influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds, the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation. Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and excessive (inflationary) growth.

This balance was achieved through much of the nineties and, in large part because of this, investors in the stock and bond markets enjoyed huge gains. It was during the late nineties that the consumer confidence index hit its historic peak, reaching levels that were never matched during the subsequent 2001 to 2007 expansion nor during the long expansion following the Great Recession.

Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, so the markets are always dying to know what consumers are up to and how they might behave in the near future. The more confident consumers are about the economy and their own personal finances, the more likely they are to spend. With this in mind, it's easy to see how this index of consumer attitudes gives insight to the direction of the economy. Just note that changes in consumer confidence and retail sales don't move in tandem month by month.