The University of Michigan announced that the consumer confidence index in April reached 49.8 points, higher than the preliminary level of 47.6 points predicted by experts. However, this figure is still significantly lower than the 53.3 points recorded in March.
Ms. Joanne Hsu - Director of Consumer Research at the University of Michigan - said that consumer confidence continues to weaken, reflecting concerns about economic and price prospects. According to her, business conditions expectations in the short and long term have both decreased.
After the data was released at 10:00 AM US Eastern time, spot gold prices rose to the highest level of the session, reaching 4,725.21 USD/ounce, up 0.69% during the day.
The report also shows that inflation expectations for a year increased from 3.8% in March to 4.7% in April. This is the strongest monthly increase since April 2025.
Meanwhile, long-term inflation expectations increased to 3.5%, the highest level since October 2025. This index previously fluctuated around 3.2-3.3% for 4 consecutive months.
The above developments show that inflationary pressure is still a factor that the market is particularly interested in, thereby continuing to support the demand for holding gold as a safe haven channel.
