{"id":300183,"date":"2026-02-24T19:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/300183\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T19:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T19:13:07","slug":"us-february-consumer-confidence-91-2-vs-87-0-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/300183\/","title":{"rendered":"US February consumer confidence 91.2 vs 87.0 expected"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/news\/us-january-consumer-confidence-845-vs-909-expected-20260127\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-link\" data-v-4026719d=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Prior <\/a>was the lowest reading since 2014 at 84.5<\/p>\n<p data-v-4026719d=\"\">Details:<\/p>\n<p>Present situation 120.0 vs 113.7 prior Expectations 72.0 vs 65.1 prior Jobs plentiful 28.0% vs 25.8% priorJobs hard to get 20.6% vs 20.8% prior<\/p>\n<p>US consumer confidence<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">Among demographic groups, confidence on a six-month moving average basis ticked upward in February for consumers under age 35, which continued to be the most optimistic group. Confidence edged down for respondents 35 and older.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">I find this something of a narrative violation:<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">The<br \/>\n Conference Board&#8217;s Consumer Confidence Index traced a dramatic arc<br \/>\nthrough 2025, defined by a steep erosion of sentiment tied to tariff<br \/>\nuncertainty, a brief mid-year recovery, and a renewed slide into<br \/>\nyear-end and an 11-year low in January 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">Confidence<br \/>\n began the year at its highest point, then fell for five consecutive<br \/>\nmonths from February through June. The decline accelerated sharply in<br \/>\nMarch and April as tariff fears intensified. By April, the index had<br \/>\nplunged to 86.0 \u2014 levels not seen since the onset of the COVID pandemic \u2014<br \/>\n with the Expectations Index cratering to 54.4, its lowest since October<br \/>\n 2011. Nearly a third of consumers expected fewer jobs ahead,<br \/>\napproaching levels last seen during the Great Recession, and<br \/>\nexpectations for future income turned negative for the first time in<br \/>\nfive years. The decline cut across all age groups, income brackets, and<br \/>\npolitical affiliations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">May<br \/>\n brought a notable 12.3-point rebound to 98.0 \u2014 the largest monthly gain<br \/>\n in four years \u2014 fueled by the May 12 U.S.-China tariff pause. The<br \/>\nimprovement was broad-based, though the Expectations Index remained<br \/>\nbelow 80, the threshold historically associated with recession risk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">That<br \/>\n recovery proved short-lived. Confidence resumed declining from the<br \/>\nsummer onward, falling for five straight months through December. By<br \/>\nyear-end, the index stood at 89.1, with the Present Situation Index<br \/>\ndropping sharply to 116.8 as views on business conditions turned<br \/>\nnegative for the first time since September 2024. The Expectations Index<br \/>\n held at a weak 70.7, marking 11 consecutive months below the<br \/>\nrecession-warning threshold of 80. Write-in responses continued to be<br \/>\ndominated by concerns about prices, tariffs, and politics, though<br \/>\nmentions of personal finances, immigration, and war increased into<br \/>\nDecember.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\" data-v-4026719d=\"\">January<br \/>\n 2026 brought a further 9.7-point plunge to 84.5 \u2014 driven by a<br \/>\nnear-10-point drop in the Present Situation Index \u2014 suggesting the<br \/>\ncautious consumer mood that defined 2025 has carried firmly into the new<br \/>\n year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prior was the lowest reading since 2014 at 84.5 Details: Present situation 120.0 vs 113.7 prior Expectations 72.0&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-300183","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}