U.S. Consumer Confidence Index Falls To Five-Month Low In September

(RTTNews) - Partly reflected a steep drop by consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions, the Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing a bigger than expected decrease by its reading on U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slid to 94.2 in September from an upwardly revised 97.8 in August.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to dip to 96.0 from the 97.4 originally reported for the previous month.

With the bigger than expected decrease, the consumer confidence index dropped to its lowest level since April 2025.

The continued decline by the headline index came as the present situation index slumped to 125.4 in September from 132.4 in August, marking its largest drop in a year.

"Consumers' assessment of business conditions was much less positive than in recent months, while their appraisal of current job availability fell for the ninth straight month to reach a new multiyear low," said Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board.

The report said the expectations index also fell to 73.4 in September from 74.7 in August. The index has remained below the threshold of 80 that typically signals a recession ahead since February 2025.

"Expectations also weakened in September, but to a lesser extent," said Guichard. "Consumers were a bit more pessimistic about future job availability and future business conditions but optimism about future income increased, mitigating the overall decline in the Expectations Index."

She added, "Consumers' write-in responses showed that references to prices and inflation rose in September, regaining its top position as the main topic influencing consumers' views of the economy."

A separate report released by the University of Michigan last Friday showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by slightly more than previously estimated in the month of September.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for September was downwardly revised to 55.1 from a preliminary ready of 55.4.

Economists had expected the consumer sentiment index to be unrevised from the preliminary reading, which was still down from 58.2 in August.