Gallup says confidence index back to double-digit negative territory PRINCETON, N.J., July 17 (UPI) -- Consumer confidence in the U.S. economy slipped back into double-digit negative territory in the week, pollsters at Gallup said Wednesday. Gallup said its weekly economic confidence index dropped to minus 12, the lowest reading since April, but significantly higher than the low point of the year, a minus 22 posted in early March. For the year to date, minus 12 is about average, Gallup said concerning the poll conducted July 8-14. "Except for that brief sequestration-related plunge in March the index has varied in a fairly narrow range between minus 17 and minus three since mid-January," Gallup said in a Tuesday release. In the latest poll, the indexes measuring opinions on current economic conditions and on six-month expectations both fell, Gallup said. The current conditions index fell from minus 12 to minus 14, while the index measuring expectations dropped from minus six to minus 10. The results to the weekly survey are based on random sampling of 3,552 telephone interviews with adults living in the United States. The results include a margin of error of 2 percentage points, Gallup said.