Consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan survey dropped to 59.4 in March 2022, down 5.4% month-to-month and 30% year-to-year.
Consumer sentiment has dipped below 60 three times before: 1980, 2008-2009, and 2011. These historical events were a recession from the Volcker rate hikes, another recession after the Great Financial Crisis, and fears shortly afterwards when the credit rating of the US federal government was downgraded by Moody's.
From the University of Michigan: “When asked to explain changes in their finances in their own words, more consumers mentioned reduced living standards due to rising inflation than any other time except during the two worst recessions in the past fifty years: from March 1979 to April 1981, and from May to October 2008. Moreover, 32% of all consumers expected their overall financial position to worsen in the year ahead, the highest recorded level since the surveys started in the mid-1940s. The combination of rising prices and less positive income expectations meant that half of all households anticipated declines in inflation-adjusted incomes in the year ahead.”
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