Americans Still Feel Terrible About the Economy

CNBC reported Thursday that U.S. consumer confidence has sunk to historic lows. Economists are now questioning whether American households will ever fully regain their financial optimism.

Consumer Confidence Reaches All-Time Lows

The University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index hit a record low in its latest preliminary reading. That result is not an outlier. Multiple independent surveys tell the same story. Americans have not recovered their economic confidence since the Covid-19 pandemic arrived more than six years ago. Conference Board senior economist Yelena Shulyatyeva told CNBC that consumers simply cannot catch a break between one disruption and the next.

The Price Level Problem Driving the Slump

Headline inflation has cooled considerably from its pandemic-era peaks. But economists say that framing misses the real source of frustration. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack told CNBC that roughly a decade’s worth of price increases arrived in half the expected time. Shoppers are not comparing prices to last year. They are comparing prices to five years ago. Economic commentator Kyla Scanlon, known for coining the term “vibecession,” told CNBC that hearing inflation has slowed does little to help when grocery bills remain painfully high. A data analysis from PNC Financial Services found that elevated price levels account for most of the decline in consumer sentiment recorded between 2019 and 2026. PNC senior economist Brian LeBlanc noted that inflation is now a constant presence in the public consciousness in a way it simply was not before the pandemic.

A Decade of Sequential Shocks

Eric Winograd, chief economist at asset manager AllianceBernstein and a former New York Federal Reserve economist, told CNBC the current run of disruptions is historically unusual. He stressed it is not the severity of any single event but the relentless sequence of them. Covid, global conflict, and President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariff agenda have arrived one after another. Georgetown University finance professor Francesco D’Acunto told CNBC that restoring confidence would require several consecutive quarters of stable, positive conditions. That environment has not materialized. Michigan survey director Joanne Hsu noted that the collapse in consumer sentiment reflects a broader erosion of happiness and institutional trust that predates any single policy decision.

What Recovery Would Require

Economists broadly agree that no single data point will turn the mood around. Households need sustained relief from price pressures and a prolonged absence of fresh shocks before sentiment can meaningfully rebound. With geopolitical tensions unresolved and trade policy still unsettled, that window remains firmly closed for now.

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