NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - U.S. consumers were far more confident in June, according to the most recent Conference Board survey released Tuesday, with the index coming in well above Wall Street expectations.

The board's June index came in at 101.9., up from the revised 93.1 reading in May. It marked the best reading for the index in two years. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com forecast the index would rise to 95.

Consumer confidence is important because it correlates closely with consumer spending behavior, and spending by consumers accounts for more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

"Looking ahead, consumers expect the economy to continue to grow at a healthy clip and to continue to generate additional jobs," said a statement from Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center. "And, with prices at the pump beginning to ease, the short-term outlook remains favorable."

The survey of 5,000 U.S. households found those who believe that business conditions are "good" rose to 25.6 percent, up from 22.2 percent in the previous survey, while those who believe conditions have worsened fell to 17.5 percent from 21.6 percent.

Those looking for further improvement in conditions rose to 23.4 percent from 22.8 percent, while those who believe conditions wll worsen declined to 9.2 percent from 10.1 percent.

The outlook on employment has also improved, helped by several months of strong monthly employment reports from the governmnent.

Those who said jobs are "plentiful" rose to 18.0 percent from 16.6 percent. That still trailed the 26.5 percent who said jobs are "hard to get." But that's down from the 30.3 percent who believed jobs were hard to get in the previous month's survey.