Consumers' view of the labour market was mixed. The number of respondents that said they found "jobs plentiful" fell to 3.4 percent from 5.6 percent. However, the "jobs hard to get" category eased to 47.1 percent from 49.4 percent.

The assessment of price increases was unchanged with expectations for inflation in the coming 12 months at 5.8 percent.

Recent better than expected manufacturing and jobs data has tempered fears the economy could lapse back into recession, with most expecting a slow pace of growth that should avoid contraction.

Analysts are hoping to get confirmation of that from US gross domestic product data for the third quarter later in the week. The advance reading is expected to show the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent after a weak first half of the year, according to a Reuters poll of economists.