UMich Sentiment Slumps Further In March, Inflation Expectations At 41-Year High

The final data for March’s University of Michigan sentiment survey was expected to confirm the preliminary data’s collapse to 11-year lows, but in fact it worsened intra-month from 59.7 to 59.4 for the headline index. Both current conditions and expectations also fell modestly intramonth to multi-year lows…

Source: Bloomberg

Politically, sentiment is down across the board, but Democrats and Independents are suffering the most…

Source: Bloomberg

From a political perspective, Republicans report a much higher awareness of inflation. When asked how their finances have recently changed, half of Republicans mention inflation compared to 19% of Democrats.

And perhaps most importantly for now, inflation expectations remain at 41 year highs

Source: Bloomberg

It seems all that Fed jawboning about how they will control inflation is not working.

About a third of consumers expect their overall financial position to worsen in the year ahead, the highest recorded level since the survey began in the mid 1940s, the report said. Furthermore, more consumers mentioned reduced living standards due to rising inflation than any other time except during the recessions seen in the late 1970s and 2008.