US consumer confidence fell for the third straight month as Americans remain skeptical about the jobs market and the overall state of the economy. The consumer confidence index fell in April to the lowest level since mid-2022, coming in below what economists expected.
“Elevated price levels, especially for food and gas, dominated consumers’ concerns, with politics and global conflicts as distant runners-up,” said Dana Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board, which runs the consumer confidence polling.
Despite Americans’ pessimism about the state of the economy, paychecks grew in the first quarter, according to the Labor Department’s employment cost index, which measures wages and benefits, released Tuesday. The bump in wages raised renewed inflation jitters among investors, sending the stock market sliding.
Tomorrow the US Federal Reserve will announce whether it is cutting interest rates, which remain at their highest level in more than two decades, with the benchmark rate currently around 5.3%. Stronger-than-expected inflation is expected to lead the Fed to hold off on long-anticipated rate cuts.