The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.7 points to 81.9 in September, as Americans reported concern about prices, household finances and jobs. The reading stood at 88.6 in August, below the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 89. The University of Michigan’s consumer survey also showed falling sentiment, down 7% to its second-lowest reading on record.
Household Costs and Confidence
The Conference Board’s Present Situation Index dropped 7.9 points to 109.3, while its Expectations Index, which measures the six-month outlook, fell 5.9 points to 63.6. For the first time in the history of one survey question, more respondents said their personal finances were bad rather than good.
The gap between respondents who called jobs “plentiful” and those who said they were “hard to get” narrowed by 2.5 percentage points to 1.7%. Consumers’ view of the labor market worsened, though the Conference Board said it remained positive. Respondents generally expected household incomes to rise, but not by as much as in previous months.
“The Consumer Confidence Index deteriorated notably in September, following two prior months of softening,” said Dana Peterson, the Conference Board’s chief economist. Peterson said consumers’ assessments of current business conditions turned negative for the first time since September 2024. “Consumers’ write-in responses regarding factors affecting the economy were mostly pessimistic in September,” she said. “References to prices, the high cost of goods and services, and oil and gas prices in particular, rose to new heights, reflecting September’s surge in fuel costs.”
Survey responses gathered from September 1-23 frequently mentioned the cost of gas, goods and services. Respondents’ average inflation expectation rose 0.3 percentage points from August to 6.1%, while the median expectation increased 0.3 points to 5.1%.
Regular gasoline averaged $4.46 a gallon. Appliance, car-repair and wireless-phone-service prices also rose in August. The government reported consumer inflation accelerated in August, with the consumer price index up 3.4% from a year earlier. It rose 0.4% from July, compared with a 0.1% increase the previous month.
Interest Rates, Jobs and Official Responses
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate two weeks before the reports to curb stubborn inflation. The quarter-point move lifted the Fed’s key rate to about 3.9%. The central bank signaled another increase could come later in the year, and the move could eventually raise borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
Uncertainty over the Iran war accompanied the Conference Board findings, with rising Treasury yields and mortgage rates reflecting that uncertainty, the article said. Prices remained high, it also reported, while wage growth was weak. President Donald Trump continued to blame high prices on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, rose 3.7% in June from a year earlier, down from 4.1% in May. The measure stood at 2.8% before the Iran war began on Feb. 28 and 2.5% when Trump was inaugurated in January 2025. The government planned to release August PCE data Wednesday.
U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in August, and unemployment remained at 4.1%. Some of the low unemployment rate could reflect people who gave up their job searches in previous months, the article noted. Average hourly wages rose 3.1% from a year earlier. The government planned to issue its September jobs report Friday.
A Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed job openings edged down by 256,000 in August to 7.08 million, below the Wall Street consensus of 7.2 million. The steepest declines came in professional and business services and health care-related jobs. Hires edged higher, quits changed little and layoffs fell slightly.