Consumer Sentiment Drops in March

Despite the ongoing stock market gyrations and the growing outbreak of COVID-19 (aka the coronavirus) U.S. consumer sentiment declines were not as deep as economists had projected. This as Americans remained somewhat optimistic in their initial response to the markets and the virus outbreak. According to the University of Michigan’s preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment index for March the index fell to 95.9 from February’s 101. The pullback snaps a 6-month streak of gains that showed Americans had grown more upbeat as trade tensions with China ease.