After reporting a sharp increase in U.S. consumer confidence in the previous month, the Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing that its consumer confidence index pulled back by more than expected in the month of February.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 96.4 in February from an upwardly revised 103.8 in January.
Economists had expected the index to drop to a reading of 99.1 from the 102.9 originally reported for the previous month.
Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board, said, "After a large gain in January, consumer confidence retreated in February, but still remains at pre-recession levels."
The bigger than expected pullback by the consumer confidence index came as optimism about the short-term outlook was considerably less positive.
The report said the expectations index declined to 87.2 in February from 97.0 in January, as consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months fell to 16.1 percent from 18.9 percent and those expecting business conditions to worsen rose to 8.7 percent from 8.2 percent.
Consumers were also less optimistic about the outlook for the labor market, as those anticipating more jobs in the months ahead decreased to 13.4 percent from 17.3 percent.
The Conference Board also said the appraisal of current conditions was moderately less favorable, with the present situation index falling to 110.2 in February from 113.9 in January.
Consumers saying business conditions are "good" dropped to 26.0 percent from 28.2 percent, although those saying conditions are "bad" also dipped to 17.0 percent from 17.3 percent.
The assessment of the job market was also somewhat less positive, with consumers saying jobs are "plentiful" edging down to 20.5 percent from 20.7 percent, while those claiming jobs are "hard to get" rose to 26.2 percent from 24.6 percent.
Friday morning, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its revised report on consumer sentiment in the month of February.
The consumer sentiment index for February is expected to be upwardly revised to 94.0 from a preliminary reading of 93.6. The index came in at 98.1 in January.
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