Finance

Surprise drop in US consumer belief

Consumer confidence in the US surprisingly declined in January with the rise in inflation expectations.

The Conference Board released January data on the Consumer Confidence Index, which measures the trends of American consumers.

Accordingly, the consumer confidence index decreased by 1.9 points to 107.1 in January compared to the previous month.

market expectations under It was predicted that the Consumer Confidence, which was realized, would receive 109 price in this period. Consumer confidence for December was revised to 109.

The current situation index, which reflects American consumers’ assessments of current job and labor market conditions, rose 3.5 points to 150.9 in January.

The expectations index, which reflects short-term evaluations for the future, decreased by 5.6 points to 77.8 in the same period.

Ataman Özyıldırım, Senior Economics Manager of the Conference Board, whose views were given in the statement, pointed out that despite the decline this month, consumer belief remained above the July data, the lowest level of 2022.

Emphasizing that consumers’ evaluations of the current economic and labor market conditions improved at the beginning of 2023, Özyıldırım said that the expectations index decreased in January as a reflection of the economic fluctuations for the next six months.

Özyıldırım noted that the inflation expectations of consumers rose from 6.6 percent to 6.8 percent, but this rate was lower than the 7.9 percent level seen in June last year.