By CountingPips.com
The U.S. dollar has been mixed in the forex markets today while U.S. stocks have been slightly lower in the U.S. session following a decline in the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey to its lowest point since February. The dollar has been trading higher today versus the Japanese yen, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc while falling against
The U.S. stock markets have been stuck in neutral so far in today’s trading session with the Dow Jones higher by a couple of points, the Nasdaq decreasing over 5 points and the S&P 500 showing close to a 2 point shortfall. Oil has declined by $1.59 to the $77.39 per barrel level while gold has dropped by $20.20 and trades around the $1,162.80 per ounce level.
U.S. consumer confidence has eroded in the past few months, according to the Conference Board survey, after showing increasing levels for the three previous months. In a survey of 5,000 households, the index showed that consumer confidence decreased by 3.9 points from 54.3 in June to standing at 50.4 in July. This marked the second straight decline and follows last month’s drop of almost 10 points from a 62.7 score in May.
Market forecasters were expecting consumer confidence to dip to the 51.0 level for the month.
The Expectations index fell in July to 66.6 from 72.7 in June while the Present Situation index also edged lower from 26.8 in June to 26.1 in July.
The Director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center Lynn Franco commented on the newest survey in today’s report saying, “Consumer confidence faded further in July as consumers continue to grow increasingly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook. Concerns about business conditions and the labor market are casting a dark cloud over consumers that is not likely to lift until the job market improves. Given consumers’ heightened level of anxiety, along with their pessimistic income outlook and lackluster job growth, retailers are very likely to face a challenging back-to-school season.”
