The Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing a moderate deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of October.<\/p>\n
The report said the consumer confidence index slipped to 102.6 in October from an upwardly revised 104.3 in September.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected the consumer confidence to decrease to 100.0 from the 103.0 originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
“Write-in responses showed that consumers continued to be preoccupied with rising prices in general, and for grocery and gasoline prices in particular,” said Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.<\/p>\n
“Consumers also expressed concerns about the political situation and higher interest rates,” she added. “Worries around war\/conflicts also rose, amid the recent turmoil in the Middle East.”<\/p>\n
Peterson noted the continued decrease by the headline index reflected pullbacks by both the present situation index and the expectations index.<\/p>\n
The report said the present situation index fell to 143.1 in October from 146.2 in September, while the expectations index edged down to 75.6 in October from 76.4 in September.<\/p>\n