The Conference Board US Consumer Confidence Index Rises in March

On Tuesday, The Conference Board, a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank founded in 1916, released the results of its Consumer Confidence Survey for March.

• The Consumer Confidence Index increased 0.8 points in March, rising to a reading of 91.8 (1985=100) from a downwardly revised 91.0 in February.
• The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—rose 4.6 points to a reading of 123.3.
• The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business, and labor market conditions—fell 1.7 points to a reading of 70.9.

The cutoff date for preliminary results was March 24. While not obvious in the headline or its component indexes, the weight of rising costs due to tariff passthrough and spiking oil prices was evident among other measures in the survey like inflation expectations.

In a statement accompanying the report, Dana Peterson, Chief Economist at The Conference Board, said:

“Consumer confidence ticked up again in March, as a modest improvement in consumers’ views of current conditions outweighed a slight downshift in expectations for the future. Three of five components of the Index firmed in March, and overall confidence improved modestly for a second month. Nonetheless, the Index has been on a general downward trend since 2021.

Consumers’ write-in responses on factors affecting the economy continued to skew towards pessimism. Comments about prices and the cost of goods suggest that the cost of living remained at the top of consumers’ minds. As the war in Iran overlapped significantly with the survey sample period, comments about oil/gas and war/conflict spiked, while specific mentions of trade and tariffs decreased notably.”