The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index dropped to an all-time low of 47.6 during the month of April. This historic decline in consumer confidence coincides with the ongoing geopolitical tensions of the Iran War.
Recent data indicates that current sentiment levels have fallen significantly below the troughs recorded during the 2008 financial crisis and the initial COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020. The index now sits at a level previously unseen in the history of the metric, marking a sharper downturn than any prior economic recession.