Joanne Xu

Even in the couple of weeks right before

the military conflict began, that trend was continuing.

Any gains that we saw in the previous weeks were lost in the weeks thereafter.

One source of positive news from this release that the major deterioration was in short-run expectations.

Overall, we're still actually in the bottom decile of readings, historically speaking.

So this is still very, very low levels of sentiment.

Consumers are very much worried about weakening labor markets as well as the percentage of the high prices.

So this improvement is very, very small.

It's less than one index point.

It's well within the margin of error.

This should be interpreted as a no change.

Overall, consumers are not feeling that confident about the economy.

They don't feel like they're thriving.

When they feel confident, they tend to spend more.

When they feel less confident, they tend to spend less.

Right now, consumers are feeling pressures on both sides of their budget.

They remain very frustrated by the persistence of high prices, but they're also seeing some weakening prospects for their incomes.