The amounts: There was a three-month low in consumer confidence in September, just before a very important U.S. election. The result of the election could depend on which presidential candidate people think will do a better job with the economy.
As unemployment kept going up and it got harder for people to find work, Americans became more worried about the job market. Another problem was that the cost of living was very high after years of very high inflation.
It dropped from 105.6 in August to 98.7 this month, according to a report released Tuesday by the Conference Board. It was the biggest drop in a single month since the middle of 2021.
A poll of economists by the Wall Street Journal said that they thought the measure would go up to 104.0.
The level of consumer trust can often tell you if the economy is getting better or worse.
This month’s average for customers was 128. This is a lot less than the average of 128 in the year before the pandemic in 2020.
Important facts: A measure of how people feel about the economy dropped 10 points to 124.3, the lowest number since March 2021.
Americans were more worried about work, business conditions, and their ability to make money in the future.
It has been slowly going up since the spring of 2023, and now it is at a more than three-year high of 4.2%. Both the number of job openings and the number of people hired have dropped sharply.
A measure of optimism that looks ahead six months fell by five points to 81.7 in September.
The expectations index, on the other hand, has been above the important 80 mark that usually means a recession for three months in a row.
In the big picture, the economy looks like it will grow at a very strong rate of about 3% in the third quarter, which ends in September. Still, there are enough signs to show that the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates last week, which was the first time since the pandemic.
Because inflation was going down, the Fed mostly lowered the cost of getting money. Top leaders also wanted to stop the job market from getting worse.
In the future: “The drop in consumer confidence in September shows how much pressure is building on many families as the job market gets worse,” said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide.
According to him, the economy will grow less strongly in the fourth quarter and into 2025, but not so much that it goes into a slump. This is because companies are cutting costs by hiring fewer people and consumers are saving even more.
