Investing.com - U.S. consumer confidence fell back more than expected in October from what been a nine-year beak reached the prior month, dampening optimism over the health the U.S. economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 98.6 this month from a reading of 103.5 in September, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 104.1.
Analysts had expected the index to drop to 101.0 in September.
The Present Situation Index decreased from 127.9 to 120.6, while the Expectations Index declined from 87.2 last month to 83.9.
“Consumers’ assessment of current business and employment conditions softened, while optimism regarding the short-term outlook retreated somewhat,” Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said.
“However, consumers’ expectations regarding their income prospects in the coming months were relatively unchanged,” Franco noted, adding that “overall, sentiment is that the economy will continue to expand in the near-term, but at a moderate pace.”
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 October 13.
Immediately after the report, that was released simultaneously with the Richmond manufacturing index, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0860 from around 1.0859 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2117 from 1.2109 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 104.76 from 104.82 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 98.98, compared to 99.01 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets traded mixed and flat after the open. The Dow 30 rose 0.10%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.01% while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.03%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,270.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,268.35 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $50.52 a barrel from $50.36 earlier.