Gold prices soar as US consumer confidence drops

According to the Conference Board (a US nonprofit research organization that provides reports and analysis on economic issues, work, labor markets and long-term trends) on Tuesday, the US consumer confidence index fell to 92.9, down from the revised level of 100 in February.

The data was weaker than expected, as economists had predicted a more modest decline, down to just 94.2.

Stephanie Guichard, a senior economist at the Conference Board's Global Index, said in the report that this was the fourth consecutive decline in consumer optimism. She also noted that current consumer sentiment has fallen below the stability it has maintained for the past three years.

Consulent confidence is particularly pessimistic, with concerns about future business conditions rising and confidence in future job prospects falling to a 12-year low.

Meanwhile, consumers' optimism about their previous strong future income has almost disappeared, suggesting that concerns about the economy and the labor market have begun to spread to consumer assessments of their personal situation, Guichard said.

Considering the report's components, the consumer sentiment metric for the current economic situation fell to 134.5. However, the biggest decline was in the consumer expectations metric for the future economic situation, down to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years.

The report also said that if the index is below 80 points, it could often be a sign of an impending recession; and pointed out that concerns about inflation remain high. The one-year inflation forecast has risen to 6.2%, up from 5.8% last month.

The percentage of consumers who forecast interest rates to increase in the next 12 months has increased to 54.6% from 52.6% in February, while the percentage of consumers who forecast interest rates to decrease has decreased to 22.4% from 24.1%.

Handwritten responses also show that inflation remains a major concern for consumers and concerns about the impact of rising trade policies and special tariffs, the report said.