Consumer confidence fell for the third straight month in April, as Americans increasingly saw through the constant barrage of false praise for Bidenomics by the liberal legacy media and Democrats, according to a widely-followed monthly survey.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence index fell from 103.1 to 97.0 – even though March’s index was revised downward – posting the third month in a row that the index has retreated.
Consumers’ assessment of both the current situation and the prospects for the future deteriorated, the Conference Board reports.
The Present Situation Index (business and labor market) fell from 146.8 to 142.9.
More ominously, the Expectations Index fell from 74.0 to 66.4 – well below the 80.0 threshold that the Conference Board says “often signals a forthcoming recession.”
“According to April’s write-in responses, elevated price levels, especially for food and gas, dominated consumer’s concerns, with politics and global conflicts as distant runners-up,” said Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board.
Indeed, the nexus of prices and politics is taking on increasing importance with consumers as November’s elections approach. More than three years in, Americans are worse off under the Biden Administration than they were during Donald Trump’s presidency, according to several key measures, including:
- Gas Prices,
- Real Wages,
- Mortgage Rates,
- Savings Rates, and
- Overall Inflation (increase in the Consumer Price Index)
When it comes to interest rates, more than half (53.8%) of consumers expect interest rates to rise over the next twelve months, an increase from March that’s causing them to scale back plans to buy big-ticket items they might have to finance, the Conference Board reports.
Founded in 1916, The Conference Board is a member-driven think tank 501(c)(3) not-profit organization.