Investing.com - U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in May, underlining concerns over the health of the economy, industry data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the Conference Board, a market research group, said its index of consumer confidence fell to 92.6 this month from a reading of 94.7 in April, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 94.2.
Analysts had expected the index to increase to 96.0 in May.
The Present Situation Index decreased from 117.1 to 112.9, while the Expectations Index declined from 79.7 to 79.0 in May.
Commenting on the report, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco said, ““Consumer confidence declined slightly in May, primarily due to consumers rating current conditions less favorably than in April.”
“Expectations declined further, as consumers remain cautious about the outlook for business and labor market conditions. Thus, they continue to expect little change in economic activity in the months ahead,” Franco added.
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 May 19.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1172 from around 1.1167 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4647 from 1.4635 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 111.05 from 111.16 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 95.47, compared to 95.54 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were trading mixed after the open. The Dow 30 slipped 0.02%, the S&P 500 tacked on 0.18%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.31%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,216.00 a troy ounce, compared to $1,214.85 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $49.89 a barrel from $49.90 earlier.