Washington (awp/afp) – US consumer confidence fell in June, after having already deteriorated sharply the previous month, and hit its lowest level on record, according to the preliminary estimate of the survey. University of Michigan released Friday.
The index thus lost 14% compared to May, settling at 50.2 points, a decline that surprised analysts, who expected a slight rise, to 59 points.
“All components of the consumer confidence index fell this month with the sharpest decline on the side of the economic outlook for the year ahead,” noted Joanne Hsu, an economist in charge of the widely watched survey. markets.
Perception of current economic conditions fell just over 12.5% and the index calculating consumer expectations fell 15.2% from May.
Households’ assessment of their individual financial situation has plummeted by around 20%.
Some 46% of respondents attributed their negative sentiment to inflation, a proportion more seen since the Great Recession of 2008.
Inflation hit a new 40-year high on Friday, hitting 8.6% year on year, according to the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Nearly half of consumers surveyed by the University of Michigan spontaneously mentioned soaring gas prices, far more than the 30% who did the same in May and the 13% citing this concern a year ago. only a year.
According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), pump prices rose an average of 65 cents nationwide last month and were at a new high on Friday nearing $5 a gallon of super on average. (3.78 liters).
Respondents expect these to continue to rise with an anticipated median increase of 25 cents over the next 12 months.
For the 9th month in a row, a majority of consumers also indicated that supply shortfalls were weighing on their economic sentiment.
“We expect consumer confidence to remain at historically low levels in the near term as inflation risks are still tilted to the upside and wallets continue to suffer from rising prices in the whole economy,” said Mahir Rasheed of Oxfod Economics.
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