Consumer confidence slightly better but inflation concerns

(Washington) Consumer confidence in the United States improved slightly in April but inflation expectations are more pessimistic than in March, according to the final estimate from the University of Michigan released on Friday.

The index climbed to 63.5 points in April, up 2.4% from March, an unchanged valuation from the preliminary estimate released two weeks ago.

This is what the consensus of Briefing.com predicted.

“Despite increasingly negative news about the trading conditions seen by consumers, their perception of the short- and long-term economic outlook has improved slightly,” survey officials said in a statement.

But they add that these improvements “are offset by deteriorating assessments of their personal finances due to higher spending costs, illustrating the ongoing hardship inflicted by persistently high prices.”

According to the survey, consumers see inflation picking up to 4.6% this year compared to expectations of 3.6% when polled in March.

According to the PCE index, the measure preferred by the American central bank (Fed) published on Friday, inflation was 4.2% year on year in March, down sharply from the previous month (5.1%) and now at its lowest for more than two years.

But core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, fell more modestly, to 4.6% year-on-year, compared to 4.7% a month earlier.

Another index, the CPI – usually a little higher than the PCE which is based on actual household spending – slowed to 5% year on year in March from 6% in February.

Elsewhere, the Chicago area manufacturing activity index (PMI) released on Friday showed a small improvement in April to 48.6 from 43.8 in March, its highest level since August. But this barometer remains in contraction for the eighth month in a row.