NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer confidence scraped against the low end of its recent trough last week, but still is holding well above its worst levels of the year, set early last spring, according to a report released Tuesday.

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index, based on views of current economic conditions, is -19 on its scale of +100 to -100. It's been between -16 and -18 the previous three weeks.

Twenty-nine percent of Americans rate the nation's economy as excellent or good, down from 31 percent the week prior. Consumer confidence in this category hit a 7 percent record low in late 1991 and early 1992.

Respondent's optimism over their personal finances waned as 54 percent rate their own finances as excellent or good; it was 56 percent the previous week. The lowest level of confidence in this category was set at 42 percent in March 1993.

And the survey's buying gauge, which measures consumers' willingness to spend, fell to 38 percent from 39 percent the week before. Consumers reported their lowest level of confidence, 20 percent, in this category in January 2000.

Expectations for the future direction of the economy, measured separately, are stable from last month. One in four Americans say the economy is getting better, but slightly more, 39 percent, are pessimistic about where it's heading and 34 percent think it's holding steady.

And in a separate ABC News/Washington Post poll, just over half of Americans surveyed, or 52 percent, said they think most people are worse off financially now that they were when George W. Bush became president, while only nine percent said most people were better off.

Three in 10 respondents said they personally were worse off, and nearly half were worried about layoffs in their household in the next year, including 27 percent who said that they were "very" worried.

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index represents a rolling average based on telephone interviews with a random sample of about 1,000 adults nationwide each month. This week's results are based on 1,005 interviews in the month ended September 14, 2003, and have an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.