Investing.com - U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated to a three-month low in October, dampening optimism over the health of the economy and dimming the case for a U.S. interest rate hike this year, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 97.6 this month from a reading of 102.6 in September, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 103.0. Analysts expected the index to rise to 103.0 in October.
The Present Situation Index decreased from 120.3 last month to 112.1 in October, while the Expectations Index edged down to 88.0 from 90.8 in September.
Commenting on the report, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco said, “Consumers were less positive in their assessment of present-day conditions, in particular the job market, and were moderately less optimistic about the short-term outlook."
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 15.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1046 from around 1.1042 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5322 from 1.5314 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 120.30 from 120.37 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 96.92, compared to 96.97 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were mildly lower after the open. The Dow 30 shed 0.1%, the S&P 500 dipped 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite was flat.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,166.70 a troy ounce, compared to $1,166.10 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $42.99 a barrel from $42.87 earlier.