Consumer confidence plunges in April with future expectations at 13-year-low

April’s fall in confidence was broad-based across all age groups and most income groups.

Consumers confidence fell for the fifth consecutive month in April amid increasing concerns about tariffs, employment and inflation.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 7.9 points in April to 86.0. The Expectations Index — based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions— dropped 12.5 points to 54.4, the lowest level since October 2011. The Present Situation Index — based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — decreased 0.9 points to 133.5.

“The decline was largely driven by consumers’ expectations,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, global indicators at The Conference Board. “The three expectation components all deteriorated sharply, reflecting pervasive pessimism about the future.”

Notably, the share of consumers expecting fewer jobs in the next six months (32.1%) was nearly as high as in April 2009, in the middle of the Great Recession, Guichard noted.

“In addition, expectations about future income prospects turned clearly negative for the first time in five years, suggesting that concerns about the economy have now spread to consumers worrying about their own personal situations,” she said.

High financial market volatility in April pushed consumers’ views about the stock market deeper into negative territory, with 48.5% expecting stock prices to decline over the next 12 months (the highest share since October 2011).

Average 12-month inflation expectations reached 7% in April, the highest since November 2022, when the U.S. was experiencing extremely high inflation.