UPDATE 1-US confidence likely decline into holidays -U.Mich

By Daniel Bases and Walden Siew NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - U.S. consumers are reeling from job losses, holding back on big ticket purchases and worried that unemployment will peak at 10.75 percent in the year ahead, the director of the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said on Friday. "In real terms we are probably not going to see an increase in retail sales over the holidays," Richard Curtin, director of the survey, told Reuters Insider television. Earlier, the preliminary November survey's consumer sentiment reading fell to 66.0 from October's final reading of 70.6. Economists in a Reuters survey expected a preliminary November reading of 71.0. Curtin said that the survey found just one in ten consumers saw an increase in their income, the fewest number ever recorded going back to 1946. He said that roughly 36 to 37 percent of those surveyed reported their incomes had declined. "This is really a concern for consumers that their financial situation is just heading south and there is really little hope that they can expect to improve in the year ahead," he said. However, Curtin said consumers believe there will eventually be an improvement in the economy but "at a much slower pace". (Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Keywords: USA ECONOMY/SENTIMENT CURTIN ([e-mail]; Tel: [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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