Consumer Sentiment Drops Lower Than Expected

A week of mostly weak economic data ends on a drop for consumer sentiment, to a much lower-than-expected 89.7 for the flash April reading vs 91.0 for final March.

Weakness is centered in the expectations component, down 1.9 points to 79.6 to signal, perhaps, emerging doubts over future job and income prospects. The assessment of current conditions is down only 2 tenths to 105.4 in an early indication that consumer activity in April will roughly match that of March, which however was a weak month judging by the retail sales report posted earlier in the week.

In another headache, long-term inflation expectations are eroding further despite the rise in oil prices, down 2 tenths for the 5-year outlook to 2.5 percent. One-year expectations are stable at 2.7 percent.

The decline in this report isn't exactly incremental but is far from a free fall, especially the resilience in current conditions. Still, low wage growth and a heated political climate are not proving to be positives for consumer confidence.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
The consumer sentiment index has been holding steady as have other confidence readings despite complaints about low wages and confusion surrounding the political campaign. Forecasters see a gain for the April flash, up 8 tenths to 91.0. As far as the economic outlook is concerned, strength in confidence readings has been an offset to this year's slowdown in consumer spending.