Investing.com - U.S. consumer confidence improved unexpectedly in July, underlining optimism over the health of the economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
The Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence jumped to 121.1 this month from a reading of 117.3 in June, whose figure was revised down from a previously reported 118.9. Analysts expected the index to fall to 116.5 in July.
The Present Situation Index increased from 143.9 to 147.8, while the Expectations Index rose from 99.6 last month to 103.3.
Commenting on the report, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco said, “Overall, consumers foresee the current economic expansion continuing well into the second half of this year."
The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was July 14.
USD/JPY was at 111.50 from 111.42 earlier, EUR/USD was trading at 1.1690 from around 1.1697 ahead of the release of the data, while GBP/USD was at 1.3060 from 1.3063 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 93.59, compared to 93.55 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were modestly higher after the open. The Dow 30 rose 0.4%, the S&P 500 tacked on 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.1%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,254.23 a troy ounce, compared to $1,254.93 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $47.39 a barrel from $47.27 earlier.