U.S. Consumer Confidence Increased in January

Industry data showed on Tuesday that the U.S. consumer confidence improved beyond expectations in January and boosted optimism over the health of the American economy.

The Conference Board, which is a market research group, said in its report that its index of consumer confidence rose to 98.1 this month from a reading of 96.3 in December, whose figure was revised from a previously reported 96.5. Analysts expected the index to rise to 96.5 in January.

The Present Situation Index was unchanged at 116.4, while the Expectations Index increased from 83.0 to 85.9 in January.

Commenting on the report, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco said, “For now, consumers do not foresee the volatility in financial markets as having a negative impact on the economy.”

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 October 15.

EUR/USD was trading at 1.0834 from around 1.0838 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.4282 from 1.4284 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 118.45 from 118.40 earlier.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 99.36, compared to 99.32 ahead of the report.

Meanwhile, U.S. stock markets were mixed after the open. The Dow 30 tacked on 0.9%, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.25%.

Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,113.40 a troy ounce, compared to $1,113.60 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $30.59 a barrel from $30.55 earlier.