Finance ministry officials characterized the figures as encouraging because of the year-to-year decline.

He said that most people surveyed showed a "startling year-to-year decline" in confidence about their own finances and the economy over the next six months.

General Motors reported a year-to-year decline of 2.7 percent, to a daily rate of 14,281 sales.

And if donations continued at that early pace, by the campaign's final day the fund would have recorded the largest year-to-year decline ever.

That represented the first year-to-year decline in nearly 30 years.

It was the first time since April 1993 that there had been a year-to-year decline for any month, and the largest drop in three years.

The year-to-year decline in transportation jobs went to 1.8 percent from 7.5 percent.

While the October drop is the first year-to-year decline, industrial production has sometimes dropped from the previous month.

The report indicated that the economy was headed toward its first year-to-year decline in producer prices since 1986.

That was the first year-to-year decline since 1929.