Reaction to Jan consumer confidence fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumer confidence fell in January, with shoppers turning more negative on current business conditions and their assessment of the job market, a new survey showed on Tuesday.

KEY POINTS: * The Conference Board said its index of consumer sentiment fell to 87.9 from an upwardly revised 90.6 in December. * The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters was for a reading of 87.5.

COMMENTS:

CARLEY GARNER, SENIOR ANALYST, ALARON TRADING, LAS VEGAS:

"It looks like consumer confidence came in a little below last month's number. At this point the bond market has priced in a lot of this news. The market is looking toward the Fed and what they are going to do, more than anything else.

"The durable goods data this morning is really what set the tone for the day. Obviously the next couple of days could be relatively choppy given the Fed action and other events."

ALAN RUSKIN, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIST, RBS GREENWICH CAPITAL, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT:

"This is not the kind of data recessions are made of, and highlights how important employment is going to be in determining whether the economy can sneak by with a growth recession (growth where unemployment rises) or something much less benign. Net-net, positive U.S. dollar data."

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ECONOMY.COM, WEST CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA: