UMich Sentiment Slumps Further In March, Inflation Expectations At 41-Year High

The final data for March's University of Michigan sentiment survey was expected to confirm the preliminary data's collapse to 11-year lows, but in fact, it worsened intra-month from 59.7 to 59.4 for the headline index. Both current conditions and expectations also fell modestly intra-month to multi-year lows...

Source: Bloomberg

Politically, sentiment is down across the board, but Democrats and Independents are suffering the most...

Source: Bloomberg

From a political perspective, Republicans report a much higher awareness of inflation. When asked how their finances have recently changed, half of Republicans mention inflation compared to 19% of Democrats.

And perhaps most importantly for now, inflation expectations remain at 41-year highs

Source: Bloomberg

It seems all that Fed jawboning about how they will control inflation is not working.

About a third of consumers expect their overall financial position to worsen in the year ahead, the highest recorded level since the survey began in the mid-1940s, the report said. Furthermore, more consumers mentioned reduced living standards due to rising inflation than any other time except during the recessions seen in the late 1970s and 2008.