Consumer Confidence Flatlines while Jobs Index Loses Last Month’s Gains

“March’s Refinitiv/Ipsos Primary Consumer Sentiment Index finds that American consumer confidence flattens after previously increasing for two consecutive months. Despite this, confidence remains lower than it was in March of last year,” James Diamond of Ipsos states. “The Jobs sub‐index remains volatile, as it has for much of the past year. After an increase in reported job security last month, Americans now feel less confident. This instability in job perceptions comes against the backdrop of high profile layoffs in the tech sector juxtaposed with better‐than‐expected recent job numbers as reported by BLS and ADP.”

Jharonne Martis, Director of Consumer Research at Refinitiv, said, “Retailers are reporting earnings and are warning us not to expect too much from them for the current quarter. This given the U.S. economy’s inflation challenge, and the fact that consumers remain cautions with their spending and are trading down. As a result, ten out of the eleven consumer related industries in the Refinitiv Retail/Restaurant Index have turned negative for Q1 2023.”

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