(Washington) Consumer confidence in the United States fell in April to its lowest level since July 2022, concerned about still high prices, with consumers being more pessimistic about economic conditions, employment, and evolution of their income.
The index measuring this confidence stood at 97 points, according to the Conference Board’s monthly survey published Tuesday, compared to 103.1 points in March, a figure also revised downwards. This disappointed analysts who were expecting 103.5 points, according to the Market Watch consensus.
“As consumers have become less positive about the current state of the labor market and more concerned about future working conditions, job availability and incomes,” commented Dana Peterson, chief economist of the Conference Board, quoted in the communicated.
Nevertheless, she adds, “optimism about the current situation continues to largely outweigh concerns about the future.”
And, while inflation has started to rise again since the start of the year, “high price levels, particularly for food and gasoline, have dominated consumer concerns, politics and global conflicts.” coming in second place,” emphasizes Dana Peterson.
Inflation was 2.7% year-on-year in March, compared to 2.5% in February, according to the PCE index, favored by the Fed, and 3.5% year-on-year according to the CPI index, on which pensions are indexed.
This rebound in inflation penalizes consumers in two ways. On the one hand, they see their purchasing power eroded by this price increase. On the other hand, it pushes back by several months the moment when interest rates will start to fall.
The American central bank (Fed) wants to prevent prices from starting to soar again. It meets Tuesday and Wednesday.
Another index of consumer confidence, that of the University of Michigan, recorded a slight decline in April, worsening among older households, but improving among younger ones.