Moments ago we got a double whammy of both the Conference Board and Gallup’s consumer confidence data. We were not surprised to observe that the gaping divergence between these two data series which supposedly measure the exact same thing and yet which both report dramatically different results, have started to converge. To the downside.

First, it was the Conference Board, which at 97.6 slid from 103 the month before, badly missing expectations of a 102.9 print. Worse still, “hope” slid to its lowest in 3 months as “jobs plentiful” slid notably with fewer jobs and decreasing income.

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Here is what the survey said:

“Consumer confidence declined in October, following September’s modest gain,” said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “Consumers were less positive in their assessment of present-day conditions, in particular the job market, and were moderately less optimistic about the short-term outlook. Despite the decline, consumers still rate current conditions favorably, but they do not anticipate the economy strengthening much in the near-term.”

Consumers’ appraisal of current conditions was somewhat less positive in October. Those saying business conditions are “good” decreased from 28.1 percent to 26.5 percent, while those claiming business conditions are “bad” increased from 16.4 percent to 18.3 percent. Consumers were also less upbeat about the job market. Those stating jobs are “plentiful” decreased from 24.8 percent to 22.2 percent, while those claiming jobs are “hard to get” edged up to 25.8 percent from 24.9 percent.

Optimism also faded:

Consumers’ outlook for the labor market was slightly less optimistic. Those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead declined moderately from 14.9 percent to 14.5 percent, while those anticipating fewer jobs increased from 15.9 percent to 16.9 percent. The proportion of consumers expecting their incomes to increase declined from 18.7 percent to 18.0 percent, while the proportion expecting a decline increased from 9.9 percent to 10.7 percent.