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Posted on 04/12/2026 9:15:43 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
Key points:
>Consumer confidence plunged to a record low in April as fears mounted over rising energy prices and the broader impact of the Iran war, according to a University of Michigan survey.
>The drop in sentiment coincided with a sharp spike in inflation expectations, with respondents seeing prices up 4.8% in a year from now, a full percentage point rise from the March reading. Consumer confidence plunged to a record low in April as fears mounted over rising energy prices and the broader impact of the Iran war, according to a University of Michigan survey Friday.
The university’s headline index of consumer sentiment tumbled to 47.6, down 10.7% from the March survey to its lowest on record. Current conditions and expectations indexes also saw double-digit monthly declines.
The drop in sentiment coincided with a sharp spike in inflation expectations, with respondents seeing prices up 4.8% in a year from now, a full percentage point rise from the March reading to its highest since August 2025. The one-year outlook in April 2025 was 6.5% following President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement.
Survey comments “show that many consumers blame the Iran conflict for unfavorable changes to the economy,” said the survey’s director, Joanne Hsu.
However, Hsu also noted that most of the interviews were completed before the April 7 ceasefire. The survey, then, primarily reflects conditions from March.
“Economic expectations will likely improve after consumers gain confidence that the supply disruptions stemming from the Iran conflict have ended and gas prices have moderated,” she said.
The survey release came shortly after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that its all-items consumer price index rose 0.9% in March, pushing the 12-month inflation rate to 3.3%. BLS officials said most of the increase in the headline number came from the surge in energy prices, with food inflation little changed.
Inflation expectations at the five-year window in the University of Michigan survey moved higher as well, to 3.4%, a 0.2 percentage point monthly increase though a percentage point below the level of a year ago.
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This is horse pucky. The far-left clowns who write this crap might want to get out of the office more often. Stores have to be completely restocked nightly. Walmart can’t keep their shelves full. Cruises and week stays at Disney parks are overrun. People are buying the “cheap seats” at concerts and sporting events for a minimum of a thousand bucks. Don’t give me the consumer sentiment crap. Everybody is driving $70,000 “luxury pickups and SUVs and are moving to Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. This is commie BS.
That’s funny- i was in the gym last week when CNBC showed consumer sentiment came in higher than expected...
Beverly Hills?
CNBC BS
Did Jim Cramer write this?
Your gym monitor might’ve been upside down.
Yeah. Those smash and grabs are still popular in Newscum’s California the Everything is Free in America illegal aliens.
Slow close toilet seats. This is the second one in a week I installed. The Mrs used the one I put in her father’s bathroom and liked it. This morning’s Lowes project was getting one and installing it for her enjoyment. She loved the bidet. Now she loves the slow close, no slam lid. Happy wife, happy life.
Keep your eyes off of democrats and the media and you will be fine.
“The far-left clowns who write this crap might want to get out of the office more often.”
My guess is that you’re referring to the University of Michigan economists would conduct the survey rather than to the Mediaite website which merely relayed the report.
Basing consumer sentiment on your anecdotal data points is nonsense. For one thing it’s without a statistical basis and for another its rearward looking. Airline and auto stocks have been pounded not because last quarter was bad but because their outlook is awful. [Full disclosure: I bought American Airlines in the anticipation that the cessation of hostilities would produce a snap-back rally.]
I’m in Cartagena, Colombia, this weekend for a wedding and the luxury mall by my hotel is crowded with shoppers. I’m sure the high-end US consumer is similarly well-insulated from higher gas prices and interest rates on their debt.
Middle class travel will be down this summer, as will first-time home buying.
And while you can kvetch about commie BS, the last time the UMich survey showed such a rapid drop in consumer sentiment was in ‘24 leading up to the general election.
Another great coping mechanism is to put your head in the sand.
"The Bureau of Economic Analysis said gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 0.5% in the fourth quarter. That was below the 0.7% forecast from economists surveyed by London Stock Exchange Group. The figure has also been revised down several times, from an initial estimate of 1.4% to 0.7%, and now to 0.5%."
There are very few movie remakes that match the originals.
One was the 1978 remake of the 1956 “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
The earlier one has an optimistic ending; not so the later one. In that one, Elizabeth (Brooke Adams) has been able to keep up a zombified front till she sees her friend Matthew (Donald Sutherland) in front of San Francisco city hall. When she cries out in joy upon their reunion, Matthew reveals that he has become one of “them” with a terrifying shriek as he points at her.
I fully expect your succinct and factual comment to be greeted similalrly.
Safeway bacon is now $4-Jimmy Dean-coupon required-12 oz.
It used to be $4 for 16 oz. Other brands. It’s not what it is but now I don’t have to buy 4 of them just because they go on sale once a month. Same with butter.
Scaroo nyt...
WHY HAVE WE TOLERATED THIS CRIME FOR A CENTURY?
FUN WITH THE GRAND JURY!
(TAXES, TAXES, TAXES...!)
19 MINUTES
(BECAUSE THERE ARE SOOOO MANY TAXES NOW)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRowujofkkY
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