Consumer confidence up slightly in July.

The Conference Board’s index advanced to 92.4, about one point higher than it was in June. The buying plans index dropped to 88.9 from 107.6 in June. More than 28% of the respondents to the monthly survey of 5,000 American households rated current business conditions as “good,” versus 29% in June. The percentage of those expecting improved business conditions in the second half remained the same at 20%. “While back-to-back gains in consumer confidence are encouraging, consumers are still not as optimistic as they were during the first two months of this year,” said Fabian Linden, executive director of the Conference Board’s consumer research center.