Fed's Yellen: Consumer confidence has "cratered"

PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen on Thursday said consumer confidence has "cratered" recently but that risks of a negative feedback loop between confidence and spending have lessened somewhat.

"It's a diminished risk but not a nonexistent risk" that weak confidence will feed through to weak spending, Yellen told reporters after a speech on the economy.

Yellen repeated a comment from earlier that retail spending held up better than expected in the spring and early summer, partly in anticipation of federal tax rebate checks.

"We noticed that Google hits on 'tax rebates' peaked in April," Yellen said, before the checks started to be mailed.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Leslie Adler)