Consumer confidence in the U.S. declined to a seven-month low in September, falling to 109.3 from 115.2 in August, according to a report Tuesday from The Conference Board.

The Present Situation Index fell from 148.9 to 143.4. The Expectations Index also saw a drop, falling from 92.8 to 86.6.

The news, coupled with a surge in Treasury yields, sent Wall Street indexes falling Tuesday. As of 11:27 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.24% to 34,435.78, while the S&P 500 dropped 1.74% to 4,365.75 and the Nasdaq plunged 2.51% to 14,593.71.

Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said the decline is largely due to concerns surrounding the Delta variant, as well as worries about the state of the economy and short-term growth. Consumer intentions for buying homes, cars, and major appliances are all slowing.

“Short-term inflation concerns eased somewhat, but remain elevated. Consumer confidence is still high by historical levels — enough to support further growth in the near-term — but the Index has now fallen 19.6 points from the recent peak of 128.9 reached in June. These back-to-back declines suggest consumers have grown more cautious and are likely to curtail spending going forward," Franco said.

Consumers’ view of current business conditions declined in September with 19.3% describing them as "good," down from 20.2% in August, with 25.4% describing current conditions as "bad," increasing from 24.1% in August.

Consumers’ view of the current labor market was mixed, with 55.9% of respondents saying jobs are "plentiful," marking a 1.3% increase since August, and with 13.4% of respondents saying jobs were “hard to get,” up from 11.2%.

Consumers’ optimism about the short-term business outlook has also taken a hit, with 21.5% believing conditions will improve, down from 23.4%, and with 17.6% of people expecting conditions to worsen, up from 17.4%.

Optimism about the short-term labor market fell to 21.5% of consumers expecting more jobs, marking a 1.9% drop from the previous month. Consumers are also more pessimistic about their short-term financial prospects, with 17.3% saying they expect their incomes to increase, down from 18.3%, and with 11.5% of consumers expecting their income to decrease, up from 9.9%.

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