- Prior month 94.6
- Consumer confidence 88.7 vs 93.4 last month. The level is moving toward the lows seen going back to 2020 (see chart below)
Dana Peterson, the conference Board chief economist said:
- Consumer confidence tumbled in November to its second lowest level since April after moving sideways for several months,
- All five components of the overall index flagged or remained weak.
- The Present Situation Indexdipped as consumers were less sanguine about current business and labor market conditions.
- The labor market differential—the share of consumers who say jobs are “plentiful” minus the share saying “hard to get”—dipped again in November after a brief respite in October from its year-to-date decline.
- All three components of the Expectations Index deteriorated in November. Consumers were notably more pessimistic about business conditions six months from now. Mid-2026 expectations for labor market conditions remained decidedly negative, and expectations for increased household incomes shrunk dramatically, after six months of strongly positive readings.
- Consumers’ write-in responses pertaining to factors affecting the economy continued to be led by references to prices and inflation, tariffs and trade, and politics, with increased mentions of the federal government shutdown. Mentions of the labor market eased somewhat but still stood out among all other frequent themes not already cited. The overall tone from November write-ins was slightly more negative than in October
- Consumers’ average 12-month inflation expectations remained elevated in November, and the median rate increased to 4.8%. The share of consumers expecting interest rates to rise edged lower in the month to about 50%, while the proportion expecting lower rates ticked down after rising over the past several months. Consumers’ outlook for stock prices twelve months from now remained strongly positive but was a hair less confident than last month.
The present situation and expectations index:
This article was written by Greg Michalowski at investinglive.com.