Today, The Conference Board reported that consumer confidence in the US took a substantial dip in April as the Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 101.3 (1985=100) from 104.0 the previous month. This decline was mainly attributed to a plunge in the Expectations Index, which assesses consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions.
Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at The Conference Board, stated, “While consumers’ relatively favorable assessment of the current business environment improved somewhat in April, their expectations fell and remain below the level which often signals a recession looming in the short-term.”
He also noted that compared to last month, fewer households expected business conditions to improve and more anticipate a worsening of conditions in the next six months. To add to that, fewer people expect more jobs to be available and more anticipate fewer jobs in the near future.
It’s no surprise that consumer confidence dropped in April given the state of the US economy. That said, there were some positives to be found in the survey results. For instance, consumers’ appraisal of the labor market slightly improved and 11.1% of consumers said jobs were hard
