US Consumer Sentiment at New Record Low Amid Runaway Inflation - UMich Poll

© AP Photo / Denis PoroyShoppers tour the cereal aisle at a San Diego supermarket. File photo.
Shoppers tour the cereal aisle at a San Diego supermarket. File photo. - Sputnik International, 1920, 24.06.2022
Subscribe
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US consumer sentiment has hit a new record low for June as people across the United States cited inflation as the number one concern and reason for their worsening standard of living, the University of Michigan’s (UMich) consumer poll revealed on Friday.
“Inflation continued to be of paramount concern to consumers; 47% of consumers blamed inflation for eroding their living standards, just one point shy of the all-time high last reached during the Great Recession” of 2008-2009, University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said in a statement on the poll.
The UMich Consumer Sentiment Index stood at 50 for June, down 14.4% from May’s reading of 58.4. Year-on-year, it was down 41.5% from the June 2021 reading of 85.5.
Consumer spending accounts for 70% of US gross domestic product.
In this Aug. 11, 2019 file photo, U.S. currency and credit cards sit on a table at a restaurant in New Orleans. - Sputnik International, 1920, 23.06.2022
Two-Thirds of Americans Say Relying on Savings Amid Runaway Inflation - Survey
Hsu said June’s worsening of the Consumer Sentiment Index from May’s record low came as Americans across income, age, education, geographic region, political affiliation, stock-holding and home-ownership status showed large declines in their optimism about the US economy.
“About 79% of consumers expected bad times in the year ahead for business conditions, the highest since 2009,” Hsu said. “Consumers also expressed the highest level of uncertainty over long-run inflation since 1991, continuing a sharp increase that began in 2021.”
US inflation, as indicated by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was at a four-decade high of 8.6% in the year to May.
Selma Hepp, deputy chief economist at property market consultancy CoreLogic, told the Fortune publication on Friday that consumer confidence had likely been “shattered by high inflation and fears of recession.”
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a meeting with business leaders and CEOs on the need to address the debt limit, on October 6, 2021, in the South Auditorium of the White House in Washington, DC. - Sputnik International, 1920, 20.06.2022
Economy
US Treasury’s Yellen Says Inflation Causes ‘Global, Not Local,’ US Not Destined for Recession
After leaving interest rates unchanged at between zero and 0.25% for two years during the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Reserve, or Fed, has raised them since March, bringing rates now to a high of 1.75%. The central bank has said it will continue with its hikes till current  inflation of more than 8% returns to its target of 2% per annum.
Economists, however, fear that the Federal Reserve will push the economy into a recession with its quantum of rate hikes. This month’s 75-basis point, or three quarter percent point, increase by the Federal Reserve was the highest in 28 years. The economy contracted by 1.4% in the first quarter of the year and will slip into a recession if it does not return to positive growth by the end of the second quarter.
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала