NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Consumer confidence edged lower last week, failing to sustain the prior week's modest gains, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The ABC News/Money magazine Consumer Comfort Index stood at -17, on a scale of +100 to -100, for the week ending April 18, slipping from -14 the previous week to end a gradual, eight-point advance over the last four weeks.

The index--composed of ratings of the national economy, buying climate and personal finances--has averaged -9 since the weekly poll began in December 1985.

Here's a closer look at the three components of the ABC/Money magazine index:

Thirty-three percent of Americans rated the nation's economy as excellent or good, the same as the week prior. The best figure in this category, 80 percent, was set on January 16, 2000, while the worst level, or 7 percent, occurred in late 1991 and early 1992.

Respondents were slightly less enthusiastic about their own finances last week, with 55 percent rating their own fiscal health as excellent or good, down from 57 percent the previous week. The highest level of confidence in this category, 70 percent, was set in August 30, 1998 and matched in January 2000. The lowest level came in at 42 percent on March 14, 1993.

The survey's buying gauge fell amid rising gasoline prices as 36 percent of Americans said it's an excellent or good time to buy things, down from 39 percent the week prior. According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 54 percent of respondents said gas-price increases have caused them financial hardship while another 31 percent say it's been a "serous" hardship.

Overall, consumer confidence in that category peaked at 57 percent on January 16, 2000, and bottomed out at 20 percent in the fall of 1990.

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Confidence, as usual, was higher among better-off Americans. The index stood at +9 among higher-income households and -62 among the lowest. Vast political differences also remained as consumer confidence for Republicans, +33, surpassed that of independents, -32, and Democrats, -40.

Measured separately, expectations for the future direction of the economy were marginally better in early March than in early February. But pessimists still reign: Only 26 percent of Americans feel the economy is getting better while 37 percent say it's getting worse.

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. This week's results are based on 1,000 interviews in the week ended April 18, 2002, and have an error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.