NEW YORK (AP) -- A private industry group says consumer confidence has sunk to its lowest level in more than 16 years.

And the Conference Board also reports that consumers' expectations hit an all-time low as home prices tumbled while gasoline and food prices rose.

A separate index of home prices saw the steepest drop since the index was created in 2000.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 50.4 this month, the lowest since February 1992. The index dropped from from 58.1 in May, a much sharper decline than economists expected.

Economist William Hummer says inflation, political flux and job insecurity have created an "uncertainty more acute, perhaps, than any time since 9/11" and that it's "deeply-rooted and likely to persist."

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