US Consumer Sentiment Falls for Fourth Consecutive Month in Early April, Reaching Second-Lowest Point Since 1952

The American consumer appears to be significantly anxious about the U.S. economy’s current and future prospects, according to CNN.

The most recent University of Michigan survey measuring a variety of consumer sentiment metrics told the tale: Sentiment plunged by 11% in early April to a preliminary reading of 50.8, the second-lowest measurement taken by researchers since records were initiated in 1952 — a reading lower than any taken during the Great Recession.

“This decline was, like the last month’s, pervasive and unanimous across age, income, education, geographic region, and political affiliation. Sentiment has now lost more than 30% since December 2024 amid growing worries about trade war developments that have oscillated over the course of the year,” said survey director Joanne Hsu.

“Consumers report multiple warning signs that raise the risk of recession: expectations for business conditions, personal finances, incomes, inflation, and labor markets all continued to deteriorate this month,” she added.

Further, fears surrounding inflation also appeared to haunt American consumers, regardless of party affiliation.

“Year-ahead inflation expectations surged from 5.0% last month to 6.7% this month, the highest reading since 1981 and marking four consecutive months of unusually large increases of 0.5 percentage points or more. This month’s rise was seen across all three political affiliations,” Hsu said.

It should be kept in mind, however, that these surveys were conducted between March 25 and April 8, a period ending just before President Donald Trump announced a significant pause on most of his sweeping tariffs — although a 10% baseline duty for all products entering the U.S. remains intact, as does a 145% tariff on Chinese imports. China has since responded by increasing its 84% retaliatory tariff on U.S. imports to 125%.

Despite Falling US Consumer Sentiment, ‘Hard’ Economic Indicators Appear Relatively Healthy vs. Recession Fears

As both CNN and Axios noted, the “hard” indicators of economic deterioration do not seem to be in strong evidence at this time, seemingly contrasting with consumer anxieties.

CNN cited Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent comments after underscoring the fact that Americans continued to show a willingness to spend and that the labor market remained healthy.

“Sometimes the surveys are very negative, but they keep spending,” Powell stated last week. “People spent right through the pandemic and they spent right through this time of higher inflation.”

Meanwhile, Axios gestured toward the most recent consumer price index report, which showed a falling of prices — at least, prior to the most recent tariff ramp-up — and a relatively “benign” report for March as well.