UMich Consumer Inflation Expectations Plunge To Record Low
By Tyler Durden
University of Michigan consumer confidence faded modestly in its preliminary June print, despite the exuberance in US equity markets.
As UMich details,
Consumers were a bit less optimistic in early June due to increased concerns about future economic prospects. The recent data magnified the growing gap between the most favorable assessments of Current Economic Conditions since July 2005, and renewed downward drift of the Expectations Index, which fell by a rather modest 8.6% from the January 2015 peak.
The strength recorded in early June was in personal finances, and the weaknesses were in expectations for continued growth in the national economy. Consumers rated their current financial situation at the best levels since the 2007 cyclical peak largely due to wage gains. Prospects for gains in inflation-adjusted incomes in the year ahead were also the most favorable since the 2007 peak, enabled by record low inflation expectations. On the negative side of the ledger, consumers do not think the economy is as strong as it was last year nor do they anticipate the economy will enjoy the same financial health in the year ahead as they anticipated a year ago.
A sustained reduction in the pace of job creation could prompt consumers to hold down spending to increase their precautionary savings. Overall, the data still indicate that real consumer expenditures can be expected to rise by 2.5% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017.
But expectations for future inflation collapsed to record lows…
Is this the chart of collapsing Fed credibility?
Source: UMich Consumer Inflation Expectations Plunge To Record Low
