U.S. consumer sentiment dropped about 11 percent in August from a year earlier, according to data released Friday by the University of Michigan.
The decline came amid continued concerns that inflation will remain elevated for the foreseeable future, according to the university’s widely watched consumer sentiment index.
Sentiment declined across all political groups in August, with the drop particularly pronounced among Republicans, the report said.
Moreover, groups typically less-equipped to absorb increases in the cost of living also recorded sharper declines in sentiment, including older consumers, lower- and middle-income consumers, and those without stock holdings, according to the report.
Some experts said the findings, together with a confluence of other economic factors, pointed to growing pressure on U.S. consumers.
“With inflation running above 3 percent, anemic job growth, and flat real incomes, there’s nothing much to make households happy,” Gary Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Xinhua.
Amid ongoing policy uncertainty, including the conflict with Iran, consumers expect gasoline prices to rise further both in the short and long term, according to the report.
Beyond the pocketbook concerns that have long shaped consumers’ views of the economy, they are increasingly worried that economic conditions elsewhere could also be weakening, the report said.
