US April consumer confidence 86.0 vs 87.5 expected

• Prior was 92.5
• Present Situation Index 133.5 vs. 134.5 prior
• Expectations Index 54.4 vs 65.2 prior– lowest since 2011
• 12-month inflation expectations 7.0% vs 6.2% prior — highest since Nov 2022
• Jobs hard-to-get at 16.6 vs 16.1 prior
• April’s fall in confidence was broad-based across all age groups and most income groups
• The decline was sharpest among consumers between 35 and 55 years old,
  and consumers in households earning more than $125,000 a year

“Consumer confidence declined for a fifth consecutive month in April,
falling to levels not seen since the onset of the COVID pandemic,” said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board.
“The decline was largely driven by consumers’ expectations. The three
expectation components—business conditions, employment prospects, and
future income—all deteriorated sharply, reflecting pervasive pessimism
about the future. Notably, the share of consumers expecting fewer jobs
in the next six months (32.1%) was nearly as high as in April 2009, in
the middle of the Great Recession. In addition, expectations about
future income prospects turned clearly negative for the first time in
five years, suggesting that concerns about the economy have now spread
to consumers worrying about their own personal situations. However,
consumers’ views of the present have held up, containing the overall
decline in the Index.”

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.