Consumer sentiment fell to a three-month low of 58.2 in August, down from 61.7 in July

￰0￱ confidence slipped again in August, with the University of Michigan’s final sentiment index falling to 58.2 from July’s 61.7, the lowest in three ￰1￱ earlier flash reading had suggested 58.6, showing sentiment weakened as the month ￰2￱ drop underscores how Americans are becoming more pessimistic about the ￰3￱ the other hand, household confidence is being dragged down by tariff disputes, higher prices, and uncertainty about ￰4￱ director Joanne Hsu said that higher prices and tariff issues were temporarily restraining purchases, especially for ￰5￱ poll found that most Americans are not making large ￰6￱ conditions for durable goods and vehicles were much ￰7￱ interest rates and price pressures make big-ticket items seem out of ￰8￱ about jobs are also going up. 63% of consumers think unemployment will likely rise in the next year.

That’s well above the proportion seen a year ago at this ￰9￱ expect next week’s August jobs report to show more of the same, moderate job ￰10￱ index of consumer expectations — a measure of economic prospects over the next six months- fell to 55.9, the lowest reading since ￰11￱ was also a slight decline in the measure of current conditions, dropping to 61.7 from ￰12￱ keep spending amid inflation pressures Consumer confidence is softening, yet American households continue to ￰13￱ data released Friday showed that July saw the fastest increase in consumer spending in four months , driven by rising ￰14￱ persistently high prices, strong wages, and a resilient labor market, families have some financial ￰15￱ the outlook isn’t that ￰16￱ pressures continue to squeeze ￰17￱ Federal Reserve’s favored measure, the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, rose 2.9% in July from the year-ago ￰18￱ is the highest level since February and an indication that inflation is proving stubborn to ￰19￱ data show that even though shoppers spend , they do so ￰20￱ more on basics like food, rent, and health care means less available for nonessentials.

“As long as wage growth remains solid and price pressures moderate, households will spend,” analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote in their report on the survey results. Still, they cautioned that spending could weaken in the coming months if wage growth slows or price pressures ￰21￱ Thursday, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that the decision on whether to cut rates in August was difficult, but signaled he would support a reduction to ease borrowing costs. Still, many Americans have not felt ￰22￱ card balances are near record highs, savings evaporate, and borrowing remains ￰23￱ even if the Fed follows through and cuts rates, the impact on household budgets could be slow in arriving, economists ￰24￱ expectations are rising Americans are bracing themselves for higher costs in the months to ￰25￱ University of Michigan survey also shows that expected short-term inflation rose in August to 4.8% from 4.5% in ￰26￱ is the highest since early spring and indicates that households believe inflation will be slower than policymakers ￰27￱ for the longer term also ticked up, at 3.5%.

This is a shade below the provisional August 3.9%, but still an indicator of increasing disquiet over the trajectory of prices over the next five to 10 ￰28￱ consider long-term inflation expectations crucial; if households and businesses think inflation will stay elevated, they can adjust their spending and investment to reinforce higher ￰29￱ increase comes despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to bring inflation closer to its 2% ￰30￱ energy, housing, and consumer goods prices keep households ￰31￱ purchases like cars and appliances already feel out of reach for many ￰32￱ caution that if these inflation expectations continue to increase, consumer behavior could turn more ￰33￱ up to $30,050 in trading rewards when you join Bybit today