US consumer confidence plummeted this month to its lowest level since 2014, a leading index showed, as Americans grew more anxious about high prices and a cooling job market.
Even as the US economy keeps growing and inflation eases, the country has been stuck in a “low hire, low fire” labor environment, and the latest reading is a “warning sign to policymakers” to focus on affordability and reviving hiring, one economist said.
Geopolitical shocks fueled by President Donald Trump’s volatile foreign policy also weighed on consumers, the survey showed.
Trump on Tuesday hopes to refocus voters’ attention on his efforts to bring costs down in a speech in Iowa, a state whose farming industry was hurt in the president’s trade war.