by John Carney
Breitbart.com
Consumer confidence plunged for the fourth consecutive month in March, with The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index falling 7.2 points to 92.9, its lowest level since January 2021. Even more troubling, the Expectations Index — a gauge of how consumers view future income, business, and labor market conditions — plummeted to 65.2, the lowest level in 12 years.
The sharp drop in expectations is seen as a critical signal of recession risk. Historically, an Expectations Index reading below 80 has often been associated with recessions. Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist at The Conference Board, noted that consumers’ optimism about future income, which had remained resilient, “largely vanished” this month.