Consumer Confidence Ticked Down In February

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that consumer confidence fell to 78.1 in February, from a downwardly revised 79.4 the month prior.

The reading that gauges activity responsible for roughly 70 percent of U.S. gross domestic product missed economists’ expectations.

Wall Street was looking for a reading of 80, which was the forecast of economists polled.

“While expectations have fluctuated over recent months, current conditions have continued to trend upward,” Lynn Franco, director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement. “This suggests that consumers believe the economy has improved, but they do not foresee it gaining considerable momentum in the months ahead.”

The “jobs hard-to-get” index was 32.5 in February compared with a revised 32.7 in January. Consumers’ one-year inflation expectation was 5.2 percent, compared with 5.1 percent last month.