Pro Perspectives 8/13/21

August 12, 2021

Let's take a look at some pretty shocking data from this morning …

This is the University of Michigan monthly survey of consumer sentiment …

It's at a 10-year low.

Here's how consumers surveyed feel about current business conditions. It's not good. The reading is moving back toward pandemic lows.

Here's how consumers feel about the future? Eight-year low.

Questions that feed into these indices include: Are you and your family better off or worse off financially now than you were a year ago, five years ago? Do you think a year from now, you and your family will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same? As to the economic policy of the government – would you say the government is doing a good job, fair or poor job?

Keep in mind, people are asked these questions as the economy is running at a better than 6% pace, with record personal savings, over 10 million job openings and record high wages.

One commonality in the data, with that of 10-years ago (when these sentiment readings were last registering these low levels): high inflation expectations.