An improved job market helped lift consumer confidence slightly in January, but the outlook for the coming months remains cautious, the Conference Board has said.

The business research firm's survey showed the consumer confidence index at 110.3 from a revised 110.0 in December.

"This month's slight increase in confidence was solely the result of an improvement in the present situation index, fueled primarily by a more favorable job market," said conference board consumer research chief Lynn Franco.

"Looking ahead, however, consumers were not as optimistic as they were in December. All in all, the index suggests a moderate improvement in the pace of growth in early 2007."

The report, seen as a gauge of consumer spending, was just slighlty better than expected on Wall Street, where analysts had called for a figure of 110.

The sub-indexes in the survey were mixed.

The survey's present situation index rose to 133.9 from 130.5 in December. The expectations index of future activity fell to 94.5 from 96.3.