Consumer sentiment fell for the fourth month, according to a preliminary report published for the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. The Index came in at 60.4, down 3.4 points, or 5.3 percent, from the October final.
Economists surveyed by FactSet were forecasting the Index would tick up slightly to 64 from October’s 63.8 reading.
The survey’s preliminary gauge of conditions fell to 65.7 from last month’s final level of 70.6, while the Expectations Index slid to 56.9 from 59.3 in October. Like the Headline Index, both Sub-Indexes were the lowest since May.
Surveys of Consumer’s Director Joanne Hsu said in a statement, “Consumer sentiment slipped for the fourth straight month, falling 5 percent in November. While current and expected personal finances both improved modestly this month, the long-run economic outlook slid 12 percent, in part due to growing concerns about the negative effects of high interest rates. Ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine weighed on many consumers as well. Overall, lower-income consumers and younger consumers exhibited the strongest declines in sentiment. In contrast, the sentiment of the top tercile of stockholders improved 10 percent, reflecting the recent strengthening in equity markets.
“Year-ahead inflation expectations inched up to 4.4 percent, indicating that the large increase between September’s 3.2 percent reading and October’s 4.2 percent reading was no fluke. The current reading is the highest since April 2023 and remains well above the 2.3-3.0 percent range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic. Long-run inflation expectations also rose, from 3.0 percent last month to 3.2 percent this month, the highest reading since 2011. Gas price expectations, both over the short and long run, rose to their highest readings this year,” concluded Hsu.
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