Economy

Consumer Sentiment Beats Forecast for April

The Survey of Consumers final reading on consumer sentiment for April beat the consensus forecast at 71.8. That’s up from the preliminary reading of 71.0 earlier this month.

Forecasts ranged from a low of 55.0 to a high of 71.0. The consensus forecast was 68.0.

The The Current Economic Conditions index came in at 74.3 and the Index of Consumer Expectations came in at 70.1.

“While the decline in both indices indicates an ongoing recession, the gap reflects the anticipated cyclical nature of the coronavirus,” said Richard Curtain, chief economist for the Survey of Consumers. “In the weeks ahead, as several states reopen their economies, more information will reach consumers about how reopening could cause a resurgence in coronavirus infections.”

What Mr. Curtain didn’t mention, however — or, perhaps doesn’t realize or understand — is that the mitigation efforts all but ensures at least a small resurgent in cases. That has always been the criticism of silenced medical voices during the crisis.

Absent a vaccine, herd immunity is the only option to expire any virus’ abilities to infect the population.

Final Results for April 2020

	Apr	Mar	Apr	M-M	Y-Y
	2020	2020	2019	Change	Change
Index of Consumer Sentiment	71.8	89.1	97.2	-19.4%	-26.1%
Current Economic Conditions	74.3	103.7	112.3	-28.4%	-33.8%
Index of Consumer Expectations	70.1	79.7	87.4	-1

The preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for May is scheduled to be released on Friday, May 15, 2020 at 10:00 AM EDT.

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PPD Business Staff

PPD Business, the economy-reporting arm of People's Pundit Daily, is "making sense of current events." We are a no-holds barred, news reporting pundit of, by, and for the people.