Chicago [Illinois], April 26: The Consumer Sentiment Index released Friday by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers fell to 52.2 in the April 2025 survey, down from 57.0 in March and below last April's 77.2.
The final reading of consumer sentiment in April fell for the fourth straight month, plunging 8 percent from March and reaching its lowest level since July 2022, amid trade policy volatility.
Meanwhile, the current index fell to 59.8, down from 63.8 in March and below last April's 79.0. The expectations index fell to 47.3, down from 52.6 in March and below last April's 76.0.
Expectations have fallen 32 percent since January, the steepest three-month percentage decline seen since the 1990 recession.
Consumers expressed intensifying unease about economic policy developments. About 60 percent of respondents in April spontaneously mentioned tariffs during interviews, up sharply from 44 percent in March.
Critically, these consumers generally expect tariffs to generate substantial upward pressure on inflation in the future and to weaken the outlook for economic growth.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers expect unemployment to rise in the year ahead, more than double the reading from six months ago. Meanwhile, less than half of consumers expect their incomes to grow in the year ahead, down from nearly 60 percent half a year ago. About 67 percent of consumers expect that the purchasing power of their incomes will be eroded over the next year, up from 59 percent in October 2024.
"Consumers perceive risks to multiple aspects of the economy, in large part due to ongoing uncertainty around trade policy and the potential for a resurgence of inflation looming on the horizon," said economist Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers.
The Surveys of Consumers is a rotating panel survey based on a nationally representative sample that gives each household in the coterminous United States an equal probability of being selected. Interviews are conducted throughout the month by telephone.
Source: Xinhua News Agency