Americans continue to sour on the US economic outlook as uncertainty around President Trump’s policies and higher prices weigh on consumer sentiment.
The latest consumer confidence index reading from the Conference Board was 92.9 in March, below the 100.1 seen in February and the lowest level in more than four years. The expectations index, which is based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions, ticked lower to 65.2 from 72.9 and remained below the threshold of 80 — which typically signals recession ahead — for the second straight month.
This marked a 12-year low for the expectations index.
“Consumers’ expectations were especially gloomy, with pessimism about future business conditions deepening and confidence about future employment prospects falling to a 12-year low,” Stephanie Guichard, a senior economist of global indicators at The Conference Board, said in the release. “Meanwhile, consumers’ optimism about future income — which had held up quite strongly in the past few months — largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers’ assessments of their personal situations.”
