After a slight reprieve in March, consumer confidence has now fallen in three out of the last four months, according to the Conference Board’s latest report…(Conference Board)
- M-O-M: Consumer confidence fell to 107.3 in April from 107.6 the previous month.
- Y-O-Y: Confidence was down 14.6 points when compared to April 2021.
NOTE: Economists had projected that confidence would rise slightly to 108.
This month’s decline was thanks to a drop in the way consumers feel about the current economy…
- The Current Situation Index fell 1.2 points to 152.6 in April as prices continue to rise across the country.
- The Expectations Index actually ticked up slightly to 77.2 from 76.7 the previous month.
Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said despite the decline, the present situation index remained elevated…
- “The Present Situation Index declined, but remains quite high, suggesting the economy continued to expand in early Q2. Expectations, while still weak, did not deteriorate further amid high prices, especially at the gas pump, and the war in Ukraine. Vacation intentions cooled but intentions to buy big-ticket items like automobiles and many appliances rose somewhat.”
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 39% select either inflation or gas prices as the biggest problem facing America today…(Yahoo News)
- “A full 70% of Americans rate today’s economy as either poor (42%) or fair (28%); just 23% rate it good (19%) or excellent (4%). “
NOTE: While Republicans (56%) and independents (43%) were more likely to rank inflation or gas prices as America’s No. 1 problem even Democrats now cite rising consumer costs as a bigger dilemma than climate change (19%) or health care (13%).