The Conference Board released its consumer confidence index for the U.S. on Tuesday. The index fell to 96.4 in February from 103.8 in January, missing expectations for a decline to 99.6. January's figure was revised up from 102.9.

The director of economic indicators at The Conference Board Lynn Franco said that consumer confidence "still remains at pre-recession levels".

The decline was driven by weaker short-term outlook. The expectations index decreased to 87.2 in February from 97.0 in January.