U.S. consumers were less confident in the economy in December as Americans remain anxious about still-high prices and the impact of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs
The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 3.8 points to 89.1 in December from November’s upwardly revised reading of 92.9. That is close to the 85.7 reading from April, when Trump rolled out his import taxes on U.S. trading partners.
A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market remained stable at 70.7, but still well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. It was the 11th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.
The country’s labor market has been stuck in a “low hire, low fire” state, economists say, as businesses stand pat due to uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates. Since March, job creation has fallen to an average 35,000 a month, compared to 71,000 in the year ended in March. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said recently that he suspects those numbers will be revised even lower.
Those are intertwined though.
More people losing income makes the impact of rising prices even more noticeable for a larger portion of households.
It’s possible for the price of goods to change independently of number of well paying jobs.
I wasn’t saying that fewer jobs was the cause of increasing prices.
It’s unlikely to change as drastically without it, though.