After two months of declines, U.S. consumer confidence rose slightly in November, but remained mired in the doldrums , the Conference Board said on Nov. 24.

The private research firm said its consumer confidence index rose to 49.5 from an upwardly revised 48.7 in October. The October reading initially was reported at 47.7.

The November figure was better than the 47.5 reading expected by most analysts.

"The moderate improvement in the short-term outlook was the result of a decrease in the percent of consumers expecting business and labor market conditions to worsen, as opposed to an increase in the percent of consumers expecting conditions to improve," Lynn Franco, Conference Board research director, said.

"Income expectations remain very pessimistic and consumers are entering the holiday season in a very frugal mood."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009