Washington  - US consumer confidence slid to a new low in February as the world's largest economy continues to battle recession, a private research group said Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said its index of consumer confidence fell to 25.0 in February from 37.4 in January.

The survey of 5,000 households found that the majority of respondents (51.1 per cent) believe business conditions are bad, up from 47.9 per cent last month. About 48 per cent of respondents said jobs were hard to get, up from 41 per cent in January.

The survey's measure of expectations for the next six months decreased drastically to 27.5 from 42.5, while views of the current economic situation declined overall to 21.2 from 29.7 in January.

"All in all, not only do consumers feel overall economic conditions have grown more dire, but just as disconcerting, they anticipate no improvement in conditions over the next six months," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's consumer research centre.

The figure was the lowest since the organization began tracking the information in 1967. (dpa)