With turmoil in the financial markets rattling consumers, the Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing a much bigger than expected drop by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of February.
The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 92.2 in February from a downwardly revised 97.8 in January.
Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to dip to 97.2 from the 98.1 originally reported for the previous month.
Consumers' assessment of present-day conditions declined during the month, with the present situation index falling to 112.1 in February from 116.6 in January.
The percentage of consumers saying business conditions are "good" decreased to 26.0 percent from 27.7 percent, while those saying conditions are "bad" climbed to 19.8 percent from 18.8 percent.
Consumers' appraisal of the labor market was also less positive, with those saying jobs are "plentiful" falling to 22.1 percent from 23.0 percent and those saying jobs are "hard to get" rising to 24.2 percent from 23.6 percent.
The Conference Board also said the expectations index dropped to 78.9 in February from 85.3 in January, as consumers were more pessimistic about the short-term outlook.
The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months dipped to 14.6 percent from 15.9 percent, while those expecting conditions to worsen increased to 12.0 percent from 10.7 percent.
Consumers' outlook for the labor market was also less optimistic, with those expecting more jobs in the months ahead dropping to 12.2 percent from 13.4 percent and those anticipating fewer jobs inching up to 17.2 percent from 17.0 percent.
Friday morning, the University of Michigan is scheduled to release its final report on consumer sentiment in the month of February.
The consumer sentiment index is expected to be upwardly revised to 91.0 from the initial estimate of 90.7. The index would still be down from 92.0 in January.
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