A new survey from The Conference Board shows that consumer confidence fell and inflation expectations rose in February—as optimism waned amid uncertainty over the Trump administration’s trade policies—accompanied by strong views of current business conditions.
The group’s consumer confidence index fell by 7 points, to 98.3 in February, marking the sharpest single-month decline in more than years and the lowest level in nearly a year. This drop was primarily driven by a 9.3-point decline in the forward-looking expectations index, to 72.9, dipping below the 80-point recession warning threshold.
