U.S. consumer confidence sank in July to its lowest since February on job market worries, underscoring the slow path to economic recovery, and home prices rose in May but without signs of a sustained rebound, reports released Tuesday showed.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said consumer attitudes worsened this month as did their expectations about jobs being hard to get.

The group's index of consumer attitudes fell to 50.4 in July from an upwardly revised 54.3 in June, below the median forecast of 51 in a Reuters poll.

"There have been quite a few headwinds — the fiscal stimulus is fading, the European situation certainly did have an impact on consumer confidence and inventories are being brought more into line," said David Sloan, economist at 4Cast in New York. "But clearly the big problem for consumers is jobs."

U.S. Treasuries trimmed losses and stocks pared gains after the dim consumer confidence reading as investors bought safe government assets.

"Concerns about business conditions and the labor market are casting a dark cloud over consumers that is not likely to lift until the job market improves," said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

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