Investing.com - U.S. consumer confidence fell more than expected in January, dampening optimism over the outlook for the consumption-driven economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 111.8 this month from a reading of 113.3 (revised from an initial 113.7) in December which had been its highest level since August 2011.
Analysts had expected the index to decrease to 113.0 in January.
The Present Situation Index increased from 123.5 to 129.7, but the Expectations Index decreased from 106.4 last month to 99.8.
“The decline in confidence was driven solely by a less optimistic outlook for business conditions, jobs, and especially consumers’ income prospects,” Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said.
Franco did point to the improvement in current conditions and gave an overall upbeat assessment of the data.
“Despite the retreat in confidence, consumers remain confident that the economy will continue to expand in the coming months,” she concluded.
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 January 19.
After the report, EUR/USD was trading at 1.0788 from around 1.0784 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.2528 from 1.2535 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 112.30 from 112.60 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.56 from 99.58 previously.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were lower after the open. The Dow 30 lost 0.59%, the S&P 500 fell 0.44%, while the Nasdaq Composite traded down 0.48%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,215.35 a troy ounce, compared to $1,214.05 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $53.07 a barrel from $53.20 earlier.