Virus cases are back on the rise and Americans are fearing the worst.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index , which measures how Americans …
Virus cases are back on the rise and Americans are fearing the worst. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, which measures how Americans feel about the health of the economy, nosedived to 70.2 from 81.2 in August, notching its lowest reading since 2011. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the index to stay at 81.2. The one-month decline is the seventh-largest in the last five decades and shows a country terrified of a virus resurgence. The drop shows «a stunning lack of confidence» as the Delta variant of COVID-19 took hold, Richard Curtin, chief economist for the university’s Surveys of Consumers, said Friday. On a percentage-point basis, the only larger drops in confidence took place at the start of pandemic shutdowns in April 2020 and during the worst period of the Great Recession in October 2008, according to the report. Americans’ current views of the economy worsened, as did their outlooks for future progress. Concerns around inflation and unemployment intensified. Losses were recorded across age, income, and education groups, and in every region of the US.
