US Consumer Sentiment Plummets... March Consumer Confidence Index Falls Short of Expectations

Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for March at 92.9
Down 7.2 Points from February... Four Consecutive Months of Decline

As uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies continues, American consumer sentiment has sharply cooled.

EPA Yonhap News

On the 25th (local time), the economic research group Conference Board (CB) announced that the consumer confidence index for March was 92.9, down 7.2 points from the revised February figure of 100.1.

This also fell 1.3 points short of market expectations (94.2). The consumer confidence index has declined for four consecutive months, indicating a continuous deterioration in consumer sentiment.

Since the consumer confidence index is an indicator that reflects consumers' confidence in the U.S. economy, it suggests that recent consumer economic outlooks have turned pessimistic. With growing concerns over economic slowdown due to tariff policies and a rebound in inflation, consumer sentiment is rapidly cooling.

The deterioration in American consumer sentiment is also confirmed by other indicators. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index, a representative U.S. economic indicator, fell from 64.7 in February to 57.9 in March, marking its lowest level in 2 years and 4 months since November 2022.

Stephanie Gishard, chief economist at the Conference Board, analyzed, "The optimism consumers had about future income, which had been quite strong over the past few months, has largely disappeared," adding, "This means concerns about the economy and the labor market have begun to spread to consumers' evaluations of their personal situations."