{"id":358763,"date":"2026-03-26T07:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T07:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/358763\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T07:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T07:45:09","slug":"consumer-confidence-hits-record-low-as-middle-east-war-rattles-households","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/358763\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer confidence hits record low as Middle East war rattles households"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Consumer Consumer confidence hits record low as Middle East war rattles households Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock <\/p>\n

British consumer confidence has collapsed to its lowest level on record, as the Middle East conflict stokes fears of higher inflation and rattles financial markets.<\/p>\n

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said its measure of economic expectations fell to -53 in March, the worst reading since the survey began after falling sharply from -30 in February.<\/p>\n

Confidence in personal finances also hit a record low, dropping to -17 from -6 the previous month.<\/p>\n

The survey, conducted by pollster Opinium between 10 and 13 March, captures the mood after global stock markets fell sharply in response to the conflict.<\/p>\n

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said confidence “collapsed as the Middle East conflict raised the prospect of higher inflation in the months ahead.”<\/p>\n

She added that the fall was “most pronounced among the Boomer generation, who are most reliant on investment and pension funds.”<\/p>\n

Despite the gloom, spending intentions edged higher, with expectations for overall personal spending rising to +13 from +6, and retail spending turning positive for the first time in two months.<\/p>\n

The BRC said this likely reflects expectations that rising energy costs will push prices higher rather than any enthusiasm to spend more.<\/p>\n

Dickinson used the data to\u00a0call on the government to ease cost pressures on her sector, linking employment laws\u00a0and pro-recycling measures to retail\u00a0shop prices, adding to pressure on an industry navigating supply chain uncertainty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consumer confidence hits record low as Middle East war rattles households Proactive uses images sourced from Shutterstock British…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[38490,24521,42,47,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-358763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-british-retail-consortium","tag-consumer-confidence","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}