LONDON (AFX) - The dollar was lower across the board in early trade as the US recovery story took a knock from yesterday's weaker-than-expected consumer confidence data, dealers said. Further, the Dow Jones index's failure to break past the psychological 10,000 point barrier also weighed on sentiment, they added. Razia Khan, economist at Standard Chartered said the weak reading in the US consumer confidence survey was a setback for those expecting a reasonably quick recovery. Other data ahead of the confidence survey had been largely inconclusive, lulling the market into thinking that recovery may not be far away. The confidence numbers were a jolt, she added. "The major thing is when the US will stage a recovery and will the Fed have to cut rates even more," Khan said. Michael Klawitter, economist at West LB expects the dollar to slide further. "Given the clear risk that today's Beige Book may also highlight the downside risks in growth, we continue to expect some further correction in the dollar," he added. The dollar's general weakness was also apparent against the yen which mostly shrugged off Standard & Poor's downgrade of Japan's long-term local and foreign currency sovereign credit ratings by one notch. Sterling rose against the dollar led by the upbeat tone of Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's pre-budget report. "Although Gordon Brown revised the UK 2001/2002 growth forecasts slightly to the downside, the outlook remains significantly brighter than in the Euro-zone," Klawitter at WEst LB said. The euro also gained on the dollar. The morning's euro zone M3 data had little impact. Euro zone October M3 was up 7.4 pct month-on-month, compared with 6.9 pct in September. Elsewhere, the Swiss Franc rose on speculation that the Swiss National Bank may reduce rates.