The latest Confidence Index, a product of nonprofit research group Conference Board, indicates consumers have lost faith in the economy’s future. A new index is published monthly.

“Consumer confidence fell for a third consecutive month in July,” said Lynn Franco, senior director of Economic Indicators for Conference Board. “Concerns about inflation – rising gas and food prices, in particular – continued to weigh on consumers.”

Consumers say businesses were in a worse situation in July, with only 17% of the surveyed reporting that business conditions were “good,” down from the 19.5% reported in June.

At the same time, 24% of those surveyed said business conditions were “bad,” up from 22.8% in June.