Even As Economic Data Get Sunnier, Consumer Feelings About The Economy Sink...
Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Stocks are booming, unemployment is low, businesses are raking in record profits, and people hate the economy more than at any other time in history.
People's feelings about their own finances and the broader economy as measured by the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment edged down in early May, reaching a low point in the history of the survey that began in 1952, the university said Friday.
1
The downtick was driven by a decline in people's ***** sment of the current condition of the economy, which also hit a record low.
The decline highlighted the glaring contradiction between consumer's feelings about the economy and what the hard data says about it.
Soaring gasoline prices, a consequence of the Iran war, seem to have a much bigger impact on public perception than soaring stock values or other indicators that the U.S. is doing well by most of the ways economists use measure the health of the economy. As of Friday, a gallon of regular unleaded averaged $4.54, well over the $2.98 prewar average back in February. Friday's survey showed this sudden increase in an everyday expense has had an outsized psychological impact.
https://www.investopedia.c...
Graeme Sloan / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Stocks are booming, unemployment is low, businesses are raking in record profits, and people hate the economy more than at any other time in history.
People's feelings about their own finances and the broader economy as measured by the University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment edged down in early May, reaching a low point in the history of the survey that began in 1952, the university said Friday.
1
The downtick was driven by a decline in people's ***** sment of the current condition of the economy, which also hit a record low.
The decline highlighted the glaring contradiction between consumer's feelings about the economy and what the hard data says about it.
Soaring gasoline prices, a consequence of the Iran war, seem to have a much bigger impact on public perception than soaring stock values or other indicators that the U.S. is doing well by most of the ways economists use measure the health of the economy. As of Friday, a gallon of regular unleaded averaged $4.54, well over the $2.98 prewar average back in February. Friday's survey showed this sudden increase in an everyday expense has had an outsized psychological impact.
https://www.investopedia.c...
27 days ago
