Closing post
Time to wrap up.
US consumer confidence has soured this month, as Americans fear that new tariffs will push up inflation and endanger their job security.
The University of Michigan’s measure of consumer sentiment fell to 57.0 this month, down from 64.7 in February, and 28% lower than a year ago.
It warned:
“This month’s decline reflects a clear consensus across all demographic and political affiliations.”
In another blow, the US Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, core PCE, picked up this month.
This batch of economic gloom has hit the mood on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 index is now down 2%.
Trade war jitters are having a wider economic impact too: Canada’s economic growth has come to a halt in February to the year as tariff threats mounted.
Economists have warned that a trade war could have a serious impact on global growth, if it hits consumer sentiment and the financial markets.
China’s president Xi Jinping gatherered a group of top global CEOs to Beijing today, to urge them to protect global supply chains.
In the UK, Thames Water revealed its chief financial officer Alastair Cochran will unexpectedly step down at the end of this month as the company fends off a cash crunch.
New data has confirmed Britain’s economy all-but-stagnated in the second half of last year, although the first half was stronger than previously thought.
US stocks sink as consumer gloom deepens
Wall Street has sunk deeper into the red, as investor sentiment is dented by the drop in US consumer confidence this month.
The S&P 500 share index is now down 99 points, or 1.75% today, at 5,593.
The mood on the New York stock exchange has been hurt by the University of Michigan’s report that American consumers grew gloomier this month, fearing higher prices and increased job insecurity.
News that the Federal Reserve’s favourite inflation measure, core PCE, has risen has also dampened the mood.
Pantheon Macroeconomics’ senior US economist Oliver Allen has said (via the FT) that the consumer spending data was “disappointing” and that an “underlying slowdown in demand growth also seems to be under way”.
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