Washington, D.C. (AHN) – The U.S. households received several pieces of negative news this week as confidence sagged and new home sales slipped. However, a better than expected third quarter Gross Domestic Product report grabbed all the headlines on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, The Conference Board reported a decline in consumer confidence to 47.7 for October. That result is down from a 53.4 reading in September and short of economist estimates for a marginal increase to 53.5.

Overall confidence was hurt by the present situation index, which fell from 23 to 20.7, marking the lowest level in 26 years. The expectations portion of the index also dropped, falling from 73.7 to 65.7.

Consumers also grew more pessimistic about the U.S. job market, as those who claimed jobs were “hard to get” rose to 49.6 percent in October from 47 percent the prior month.

Supporting those feelings, initial jobless claims came in higher than expected for the week ending Oct. 24. The Labor Department reported 530,000 new claims, more than the 525,000 expected by economists. The 4-week moving average did fall to 526,250, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week’s average of 532,250.

The Commerce Department reported a decline in new home sales to 402,000 for September. The result fell well short of the increase to 440,000 expected by economists and was below the 417,000 sales reported in August.

Although the job market and expectations continue to sag, the U.S. economy posted growth in the third quarter. The advanced reading of third quarter GDP from the Commerce Department showed 3.5 percent annual growth for the period.

The rise was largely pushed by motor vehicle output, which added 1.66 percent to GDP growth, following just a 0.19 percent contribution in the second quarter.

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