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.
Something that caught my attention. I ordered two random, non-Christmas items on Monday. I fully expected not to see them until later this week or next week. Much to my surprise, they’re out for delivery today.
The sheer fact I could order something 3 days before Christmas and have it arrive on Christmas Eve tells me that shipping rates are much lower this year than they have been in years past, which means people aren’t ordering the same amount they used to.
I had this same thought when my should-be-next-Saturday deliveries showed up yesterday.
Two things we ordered over a week ago were supposed to be delivered yesterday but now say the 27th. So YMMV I guess.
Mine came via FedEx. Were yours USPS?
One Fedex one UPS. Another Fedex package that was supposed to be here last week only got here yesterday.
My guess is that they hired more people in traditionally heavy areas so that there it’s going faster but in flyover country it’s business as usual.
Anecdotal, but my friend who’s a teacher noticed that while he usually gets tons of Christmas cards and gifts from his students, this year not so much. It’s like an indicator for the economy. People seem to be less festive and/or are having to cut costs this year.
I’ve seen a lot more talk about Prices than the other notable impact of Tariffs: the highest number of Layoffs since the Pandemic and loss of manufacturing jobs across the USA.
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.
They are blaming AI for that, which is surprising since not one of those jobs was actually replaced with AI.
The flip flopping and lies from media is so disgusting right now. First I hear BEST rebound, people shopping more than two years ago! Then I hear no one can afford shit. So which is it???
Media, get your nose outta the orange cancer ass and DO YOUR JOB— report the truth. Ugh.
So concerned they broke records for black friday shopping. We can’t even be bothered to stop spending to send a message. I hate it here.
If you have any confidence in the dumpster fire that is average American economies I’m sorry but you’re an idiot.
Too stupid to create your own saucy analogy but really craving Internet karma? Just use “dumpster fire” and watch the upvotes roll on in!
What a weirdly unnecessary reply.
