"Consumer confidence retreated in October, after back-to-back monthly gains".
- Lynn Franco, Conference Board
American consumers were more pessimistic about the path of the economy in October, according to latest survey results published on Tuesday. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index dropped unexpectedly to 98.6 points in October, following the prior month's 104.1, the best level since 2007, while market analysts anticipated a milder decrease to 101.5 during the reported period. The Present Situation Index fell to 120.6 from 127.9 in the tenth month of the year, while the Expectations Index dropped to 83.9 from 87.2 registered last month. Furthermore, the share of respondents expecting more jobs in the upcoming months declined to 13.1% from September's 15.7%, whereas the percentage of those expecting incomes to rise remained unchanged at 17.5% in October. Nevertheless, the share of respondents expecting fewer jobs fell to 17.0% from 18.1% seen in September, as well the percentage of those expecting incomes to drop to 9.8% from the previous month's 10.4%.
After the release, the US Dollar dropped slightly against the Euro, trading at 1.0860, whereas the US Dollar Index, which measures the Greenback against a basket of six major rivals, declined to 98.98