The University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment index crossed the wires at 72.8 versus expectations of 72.5 on Friday morning. The US equity space saw mixed behavior following the report, with the Dow Jones Index climbing near positive territory, however, the Nasdaq 100 index shifted lower into negative territory, down 0.59% at the time of writing. The Michigan data follows some mixed economic prints from earlier Friday morning, with retail sales coming in at 1.2% versus expectations of 2.1%, however, excluding autos, the figure rose 1.9%, beating expectations.

NASDAQ 100 INDEX PRICE CHART

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Source: IG Charts

While the data for August is an improvement from July, the index remains well off its pre-COVID marks. This comes at a time when state economies across the country grapple with reopening parts of the economy amid rising deaths in recent weeks for the United States. Gauging the current feel on the economy through the Michigan survey’s current conditions index shows a reading of 82.5 versus the prior month’s 82.8 figure. As Fed Chair Powell remarked last month, the economic recovery will depend highly on the path of the virus and stopping the spread.

US DAILY DEATHS (LINE: 7-DAY AVERAGE)

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Source: The COVID Tracking Project

Looking forward, the expectations index printed 66.5 versus expectations of 65.5 and climbing slightly from the previous month’s print. According to the Surveys of Consumers Chief Economist, Richard Curtin, “Bad economic times are anticipated to persist not only during the year ahead, but the majority of consumers expect no return to a period of uninterrupted growth over the next five years.” When viewing the survey in a whole, there is little positivity to extract from the report, and looking forward, it may be prudent to continue to keep an eye on the path of the virus and its relation to consumer expectations.