EmailThe Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell from 66.0 in April to 60.8 in May. The Briefing.com consensus expected the Consumer Confidence Index to increase to 66.3.
After reaching its highest level in three years (72.0) in February, the index is now at its lowest point since it reached 57.8 in November 2010.
The decline in the Consumer Confidence Index was at odds with the final reading of the May University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index. That measure increased from 69.8 in April to 74.3 in May.
Typically, consumer sentiment/confidence indices correlate with equity prices, employment, media reports, and oil/gasoline prices. The expectation that the recent gasoline price spike will reverse in the near future was the basis for the surge in consumer sentiment.
However, the consumers surveyed by the Conference Board do not seem to think the increase in gasoline prices is temporary. Instead of rising -- as the Consumer Sentiment Expectations Index did -- the Consumer Confidence Expectations Index fell from 83.2 in April to 75.2 in May. That is its lowest level since reaching 67.5 in October 2010.
The Present Situation Index dropped from 40.2 in April to 39.3 in May.
