The US consumer confidence beat previous downward forecasts and rose slightly in July, US Conference Board reported yesterday.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index stands at 51.9 in July, up slightly from 51.0 in June. Economists had predicted it to drop to 50 as it had been declining for six months.

The report shows that consumers' outlook, while slightly improved from last month, continues to be very pessimistic. Consumers anticipating business conditions to worsen over the next six months eased to 32.4 percent from 33.5 percent, while those expecting conditions to improve edged up to 9.3 percent from 8.5 percent in June.

"Consumers' assessment of current conditions was little changed," said the Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco. But, while consumers remain extremely grim about short-term prospects, the modest improvement in expectations, often a harbinger of economic times to come, bears careful watching over the next few months, he added.

The upbeat consumer confidence data gave a big boost to the US stocks and the dollar yesterday. Wall Street rebounded after a heavy loss on Monday, and the dollar hit a 5-week high against the euro.

Established in 1916, the US Conference Board is the world's preeminent business membership and research organization, best known for its monthly US Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators.