Inflation, Tariffs Turn Consumers Sour on Trumponomics
Consumer sentiment took a marked shift downward in the latest University of Michigan’s monthly sentiment survey released Friday as Americans expressed increasing concern about President Donald Trump’s proposed import tariffs and continuing inflation.
2025-02-24 13:43:25 - VI News Staff
The overall consumer sentiment index for February dropped 9.8% from January to a reading of 64.7 while the index of current conditions fell 12.5% to 65.7. The index that measures how consumers feel about future economic conditions dropped 7.9% to 64. Consumer sentiment overall is down nearly 16% from a year ago.
Notably, inflation expectations surged with consumers saying they expect year-ahead prices to rise by 4.3% over the next 12 months, a full percentage point jump from a month ago. And expectations for long-term inflation saw the largest monthly increase since May 2021.
“The decrease was unanimous across groups by age, income, and wealth,” said survey director Joanne Hsu in a statement. “All five index components deteriorated this month, led by a 19% plunge in buying conditions for durables, in large part due to fears that tariff-induced price increases are imminent.”