U.S. consumer confidence dropped for a fourth consecutive month in March, showed a survey released by business research group the Conference Board on Tuesday.

The group said its consumer confidence index further sank to 92.9 in March, lower than the forecast consensus of 94.2.

"Consumers' expectations were especially gloomy, with pessimism about future business conditions deepening and confidence about future employment prospects falling to a 12-year low," said Stephanie Guichard, the group's senior economist of global indicators.

The Expectations Index, which is based on consumers' short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, dropped 9.6 points to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years and well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead, said the release.

Guichard noted that consumers' optimism about future income largely vanished, which suggests that worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers' assessments of their personal situations.

Consumers turned negative about the stock market for the first time since the end of 2023 likely in response to recent market volatility, Guichard added.

In March, only 37.4 percent of consumers expected stock prices to rise over the year ahead, down nearly 10 percentage points from February and 20 percentage points from the high reached in November 2024, the release said.

The monthly survey is based on an online sample and the cutoff date for the latest preliminary results was March 19.