U.S. consumer confidence fell to a 3-month low in May as soaring prices and rising interest rates fed into a cooling of buying …
U.S. consumer confidence fell to a 3-month low in May as soaring prices and rising interest rates fed into a cooling of buying intentions for goods like cars and houses, and as consumers expressed worry about the future pace of inflation. The Conference Board said in a May 31 statement that its Consumer Confidence Index fell from an upwardly revised 108.6 in April to 106.4 in May.
“Consumer confidence dipped slightly in May, after rising modestly in April,” Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, said in a statement. The Present Situation Index, which is a gauge of how consumers view current business and jobs market conditions, fell from 152.9 last month to 149.6. That drop was entirely driven by consumers’ perceived deterioration in labor market conditions, while the business component of the metric edged up.
“Views of current business conditions—which tend to move ahead of trends in jobs—improved,” Franco said.
