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According to a report released Friday, the sharp decline in U.S. consumer confidence in March—which was greater than analysts had anticipated—was caused by economic instability now that Donald Trump is back in office.
The apparent disarray of Trump’s tariff policies and concerns about high inflation caused the University of Michigan consumer confidence index to drop from 64.7 in February to 57.9 in March.
In a single month, the index fell 10.5 per cent, and over the previous year, it fell 27.1 per cent.
MarketWatch reported that analysts had anticipated a less significant drop, to 63.2.
The University of Michigan said in a statement issued that accompanied the survey results that although the state of the economy was not significantly altered, expectations for the future declined in a number of areas, including personal finances, labour markets, inflation, business conditions, and stock markets.
Credit: : Sky News
“Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors,” it stated.
The statement hinted that “frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to plan for the future, regardless of one’s policy preferences.”
Since American sentiment and spending patterns have a significant impact on the state of the US economy, the February University of Michigan index, which also fell precipitously, was the equivalent of a bucket of cold water for financial markets.
