U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Fell to 56.2 (Courtney Schlisserman)

  Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February as job losses and declining prices for stocks and homes undermined Americans’ view of their financial well-being.

  The Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment fell to 56.2, from 61.2 in January. The drop is the first in three months and puts the index near a 28-year low of 55.3 reached in November.

  The longest recession since 1982, including the loss of 3.57 million jobs, is damping Americans’ spirits, prompting them to curtail spending. Congress yesterday moved toward passage by the end of this week of a $789 billion economic stimulus plan that would cut taxes, extend unemployment benefits and expand federal spending on roads and other infrastructure.

  “There is no imminent upturn in consumer spending on the horizon,” Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners LP in Greenwich, Connecticut, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It’s going to be rough sledding for at least the next two quarters.”