TechFlow news, on February 25, according to Jinshi Data, U.S. consumer confidence dropped sharply in February as pessimism about the future returned. Data from The Conference Board showed the consumer confidence index fell 7 points to 98.3 in February, while the expectations index declined 9.3 points to 72.9.
The expectations index has fallen below the recession-predicting threshold of 80 for the first time since June 2024. Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at The Conference Board, said: "The February decline in consumer confidence was the largest monthly drop since August 2021, marking the third consecutive month of declines and bringing the index down to the bottom of the range seen since 2022."
Among the five components, only consumers' assessment of current business conditions saw a slight improvement. Consumers turned pessimistic about future business environment and became less optimistic about future income.
Pessimism regarding employment prospects rose to a ten-month high." Guichard added: "The 12-month average inflation expectation surged from 5.2% to 6% in February.
Mentions of inflation and general prices in written responses remained high, but focus has shifted toward other topics. References to trade and tariffs have risen sharply, returning to levels seen since 2019."
