Consumer sentiment in the U.S. has unexpectedly deteriorated in the month of May, according to a report released by Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan on Friday.
The report showed that the preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for May came in at 81.8, down from the final April reading of 84.1.
The drop came as a surprise to economists, who had been expecting the consumer sentiment index to edge up to 84.5.
"The main concern behind the small May loss involved dispiriting trends in wages," survey director Richard Curtin said, according to Reuters.
The report showed that the barometer of current economic conditions fell to 95.1 in May from 98.7 in April, while the gauge of consumer expectations dipped to 73.2 from 74.7.
On the inflation front, one-year inflation expectations remained unchanged at 3.2 percent. The five-to-ten-year inflation outlook edged down to 2.8 percent from 2.9 percent.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Business News
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.