U.S. consumer confidence weakened a bit in February according to a report released today by the Conference Board.

The private research group said that its overall index of consumer confidence during the second month of the year slipped modestly to 104, from the revised 105.1 seen in January.

Economists had expected to see a reading of 103 for February.

The Conference Board also said that its present-situation index rose to 116.4, from 112.1 the month before, while the February expectations index stood at 95.7, versus 100.4 in January.

“Although expectations cooled this month, consumers are more optimistic today than they were a year ago,” said Conference Board economist Lynn Franco in a release. “Consumer confidence about current economic conditions, including the labor market, continues to gather momentum,” she said.

Consumers’ overall assessment of current conditions improved. Those claiming business conditions are “good” eased to 24.9% from 26.1% , but seeing “bad” conditions declined to 15.6% from 18.1%. The employment picture also brightened. Those saying jobs are “hard to get” fell to 22.6% from 24.3%, while those claiming jobs are “plentiful” was flat at 20.9%.

However, expectations for the economic conditions six months down the road turned darker. Those anticipating business conditions to improve declined to 17.8% from 22% in January, while those expecting business conditions to worsen held steady at 7.8%.

The outlook for the labor market was also somewhat less optimistic: 15.2% expect more jobs to become available in the coming months, compared to 16.6 percent last month. And 16.8% expect fewer jobs, up from 15.1% last month.