Final results show consumer sentiment increased 1.3 points in November to 71.8, up 10.5 points from one year ago. The Current Economic Conditions Index fell 1.0 point from the previous month to 63.9, 4.4 points lower than year-ago-levels. The Consumer Expectations Index grew 2.8 points to 76.9, 20.1 points higher than the November 2023 Index.
“Consumer sentiment was little changed this month, inching up 1.3 index points from October. In November, sentiment extended a four-month stretch of consecutive incremental increases. Post-election interviews were 1.3 points below the pre-election reading, moderating the improvement seen earlier in the month. Overall, the stability of national sentiment this month obscures discordant partisan patterns. In a mirror image of November 2020 (see chart), the expectations index surged for Republicans and fell for Democrats this month, a reflection of the two groups’ incongruous views of how Trump’s policies will influence the economy. In contrast, current conditions saw insignificant changes this month across the political spectrum, consistent with the fact that the resolution of the election exerted little immediate impact on the current state of the economy. Ultimately, substantial uncertainty remains over the future implementation of Trump’s economic agenda, and consumers will continue to re-calibrate their views in the months ahead.”, said University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu.
Year-ahead inflation expectations fell slightly from 2.7% last month to 2.6% this month. The current reading is the lowest since December 2020 and sits within the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic. Long-run inflation expectations rose from 3.0% last month to 3.2% this month; uncertainty over long-run inflation, as measured by the interquartile range of expectations, increased as well.
Read the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers release.
