We’re still waiting for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to begin her daily news briefing.
In the meantime – a survey of American consumers has found that attitudes toward the US economy dropped sharply this past month.
The University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its Consumer Sentiment Index dropped to 50.8 this month from a final reading of 57.0 in March.
Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu says the decline in confidence “was pervasive and unanimous across age, income, education, geographic region and political affiliation”.
She adds that survey respondents reported “multiple warning signs that raise the risk of recession: expectations for business conditions, personal finances, incomes, inflation, and labour markets all continued to deteriorate this month”.
Interviews for the survey were conducted between 25 March and 8 April, meaning they include “Liberation Day” and the fallout from Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
