US consumer sentiment falls to lowest level in more than 3 years

[ffr]

Source: CNBC

The index of consumer sentiment dropped to 89.1 in March — its lowest level since October 2016 — from 101 in February. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected consumer sentiment to fall to 90.

March’s decline in sentiment was the fourth-largest in nearly 50 years, according to Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers.
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“Mitigating the negative impacts on health and finances may curb rising pessimism, but it will not produce optimism.”

“There is no silver bullet that could end the pandemic as suddenly as the military victory that ended the Gulf war,” he added.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/27/us-consumer-sentiment-march-2020.html

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Marketwatch Bulletin: U.S. consumer-sentiment index sinks to a nearly four-year low

[gibraltar72]

1. Did something happen?

[ffr]

2. Bwah! Dipshits with their red hats are getting a taste of their own schadenfreude.

The mountain of Americans in bodybags piling up are on them.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. America will realize soon enough the fix it is in

Social media is not very active these last 2 days.

Trump's plan is to deflect, deny, ignore blame, and tell you everything is manageabe. How many will realize he could improve the outcome even with the projected shortages? The bleakest times in my memory were the Vietnam War. But this is closer to Pearl Harbor, 1941. The outlook is bleak, fearful, uncertain.

[Stuart G]

4. My Prediction: consumer sentiment will go much lower....,

Last edited Fri Mar 27, 2020, 03:15 PM - Edit history (1)

[Harker]

5. The very word "consumer" says a lot about

how the public is perceived. A whole lot.

[Igel]

6. It's sentiment.

It's partly based on paychecks, it's partly based on what people hear.

Give them money while showing them beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're all doomed, it won't help sentiment much. (And sentiment doesn't care about the truth or falsity of predictions. It cares about their perception.)