With consumers offering less favorable assessments of their personal finances, the University of Michigan released a report on Friday unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of October.
The preliminary report showed the consumer sentiment index dipped to 99.0 in October from the final September reading of 100.1. The drop surprised economists, who had expected the index to inch up to 100.4.
"Consumer sentiment slipped in early October, although it remained at quite favorable levels and just above the average reading during 2018," said Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin.
Curtin added, "It should be noted that the sharp selloff in equities overlapped interviewing by only one evening, having virtually no influence on the early October data."
The report said the current economic conditions index edged down to 114.4 in October from 115.2 in September. The index of consumer expectations also slipped to 89.1 from 90.5.
On the inflation front, one-year inflation expectations inched up to 2.8 percent in October from 2.7 percent in September, while five-year inflation expectations fell to 2.3 percent from 2.5 percent.
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