The Conference Board, the think tank that provides information on what’s to come in economic matters, reported that the Consumer Confidence Index for May fell to 102.3 points, down from an upward revision of 103.7 in April.
“Consumer confidence declined in May as consumers’ views of current conditions became slightly less optimistic, while their expectations remained gloomy,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economics at The Conference Board.
“His assessment of current employment conditions registered the most significant deterioration, with the share of consumers reporting that jobs are ‘plentiful’ falling by 4 percentage points, from 47.5% in April to 43.5% in May,” it added. Ozyildirim.
The report indicates that employment and income expectations for the next six months remained relatively stable. While consumer confidence has fallen across all age and income categories over the past three months, May’s decline reflects a particularly notable worsening in the outlook among consumers 55 and older.
“Consumer inflation expectations remain elevated but stable. In May, consumers expected inflation to average 6.1% over the next 12 months, essentially unchanged from April’s 6.2%, though substantially below last year’s high of 7.9%. Nonetheless, consumers continued to see inflation as a major influence on their view of the US economy. Plans to buy homes over the next six months held steady in May at around 5.6%, but still narrowed remarkably from 6 to 7% in the fourth quarter of 2022. Plans to buy expensive cars and home appliances are up a bit compared to April,” Ozyildirim said.
According to the report:
· 19.6% of consumers said business conditions were “good”, up from 19.0% last month.
· 17.0% said that business conditions were “bad”, compared to 18.1%.
· For 43.5% of consumers, jobs are “abundant”, compared to 47.5% last month.
· 12.5% of consumers said jobs were “hard to get,” up from 10.6% last month.
· 12.9% of consumers expect business conditions to improve, compared to 14.1% the previous month.
· Meanwhile, 20.6% expect business conditions to worsen, slightly less than the previous 21.4%.
· 13.6% of consumers expect more jobs to be available, compared to 14.3%.
· However, 20.2% foresee fewer jobs, compared to 21.3%.
· 17.8% of consumers expect their income to increase, slightly more than 17.3% last month.
· While 11.5% expect their income to decrease, the same as last month.
For more details on the report, click here.
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