The Conference Board's U.S. consumer confidence index fell in October to 47.7 from an upwardly revised 53.4 in September, the private business research group reported on Tuesday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 53.1 for the October index.

The monthly survey of roughly 5,000 U.S. households is conducted by NFO Research Inc. of Greenwich, Connecticut, for the Conference Board, a New York-based business and economics research group funded by major corporations globally.