Confidence and Sentiment: February 2026

With the release of the Conference Board’s Confidence Index, and the SF Fed’s News Sentiment Index, we have the following picture:

Figure 1: U.Michigan Economic Sentiment (blue), Conference Board Confidence Index (brown), SF news sentiment index (light green), all demeaned and divided by standard deviation 2021M01-2025m02. Red dashed line at “Liberation Day” Source: UMichigan, Gallup, Conference Board, and author’s calculations.

The Conference Board’s index remains mired at fairly low levels, although higher than pandemic period levels.

This entry was posted on February 24, 2026 by Menzie Chinn.