The Conference Board's U.S. consumer confidence index for September improved to 59.8 in Tuesday's report, higher than the consensus expectations that confidence would drop to 55.0. The advance was led solely by the expectations component.
One-year inflation expectations fell back to 6.2%, its lowest level since March and down from August's 6.6% reading.
The previous month's headline reading of 56.9 was revised up to 58.5. One year ago, the index stood at 99.5.
The expectations category improved to 60.5, up from 54.1 in August, but the present situation component fell to 58.8 from 60.5.
By Patrick McGee and edited by Sarah Sussman
©CEP News Ltd. 2008