The Conference
Board reported on Tuesday its U.S. consumer confidence index decreased 4.2
points to 106.7 in February from a downwardly revised 110.9 (from 114.8) in January. This represented the first drop
in the indicator after three consecutive months of advances.
Economists had expected
the consumer confidence index to increase to 115.0.
The details of
the survey revealed that the February fall in the headline index was driven by declines in both the present situation index (-7.7 points to 147.2
this month) and the expectations index (-1.7 points to 79.8).
Commenting on
the results of the last survey, Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The
Conference Board, noted that the February decrease in consumer confidence reflected
persistent uncertainty about the U.S. economy. She added that February's
write-in responses revealed that while overall inflation remained the main
preoccupation of consumers, they are now a bit less concerned about food and
gas prices, which have eased in recent months, but more concerned about the
labour market situation and the US political environment.