U.S. Consumer Confidence at Five-Month Low
Consumer confidence declined in September as views on business conditions and the job market grew less positive, while concerns about inflation increased.
WASHINGTON — The Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing a bigger-than-expected decrease in its reading on U.S. consumer confidence for September, partly reflecting a steep drop in consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions.
The consumer confidence index slid to 94.2 in September from an upwardly revised 97.8 in August. Economists had expected the index to dip to 96 from the 97.4 originally reported for the previous month. With this larger-than-expected decrease, the index dropped to its lowest level since April 2025.
The continued decline in the headline index came as the present situation index slumped to 125.4 in September from 132.4 in August, marking its largest drop in a year.
"Consumers' assessment of business conditions was much less positive than in recent months, while their appraisal of current job availability fell for the ninth straight month to reach a new multiyear low," said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, for global indicators at The Conference Board.
The report noted that the expectations index also fell to 73.4 in September from 74.7 in August. The index has remained below the threshold of 80, which typically signals a recession ahead, since February 2025.
"Expectations also weakened in September, but to a lesser extent," said Guichard. "Consumers were a bit more pessimistic about future job availability and future business conditions, but optimism about future income increased, mitigating the overall decline in the Expectations Index."
She added, "Consumers' write-in responses showed that references to prices and inflation rose in September, regaining their top position as the main topic influencing consumers' views of the economy."
A separate report released by the University of Michigan last Friday showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by slightly more than previously estimated in September.
The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for September was downwardly revised to 55.1 from a preliminary reading of 55.4. Economists had expected the consumer sentiment index to be unrevised from the preliminary reading, which was still down from 58.2 in August.
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