Consumer Sentiment: FINAL Results for APRIL 2026

The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) - FINAL Results for April, 2026 was released today:

Predicted: 49.0

• Actual: 49.8

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• Change from Previous Month: -6.57% (-3.5 points)
  
  

• Change from 12-Months Previous: -4.6% (-2.4 points)

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• Final ICS Reading for March 2026: 53.3
  
  
• Final ICS Reading for April 2025: 52.2

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From Today's Report:

"...Consumer sentiment ticked down 3.5 index points this month, now comparable to the trough seen in June 2022. Decreases in sentiment were seen across political party, income, age, and education.

Expected business conditions declined for both short and long time horizons, nearly matching year-ago readings when the reciprocal tariff regime was implemented.

After the two-week cease-fire was announced and gas prices softened a touch, sentiment recovered a modest portion of its early-month losses.

The Iran invasion appears to influence consumer views primarily through shocks to gasoline and potentially other prices.

In contrast, military and diplomatic developments that do not lift supply constraints or lower energy prices are unlikely to buoy consumers.

Year-ahead inflation expectations surged from 3.8% in March to 4.7% this month, the largest one-month increase since April 2025. The current reading exceeds those seen in 2024 and remains well above the 2.3-3.0% range seen in the two years pre-pandemic.

After hovering between 3.2 and 3.3% for the previous four months, long-run inflation expectations climbed to 3.5% in April, the highest reading since October 2025. In 2024, values ranged between 2.8% and 3.2%, while in 2019 and 2020, they were consistently below 2.8%..."

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CHART: Buy-in-Advance Motives Tick Up After Start of
Iran Invasion But Remain Historically Modest So Far
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The ICS is derived from the following five survey questions:

1. "We are interested in how people are getting along financially these days. Would you say that you (and your family living there) are better off or worse off financially than you were a year ago?"
   
   
2. "Now looking ahead, do you think that a year from now you (and your family living there) will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now?"
   
   
3. "Now turning to business conditions in the country as a whole, do you think that during the next twelve months we'll have good times financially, or bad times, or what?"
   
   
4. "Looking ahead, which would you say is more likely: that in the country as a whole we'll have continuous good times during the next five years or so, or that we will have periods of widespread unemployment or depression, or what?"
   
   
5. "About the big things people buy for their homes, such as furniture, a refrigerator, stove, television, and things like that. Generally speaking, do you think now is a good or bad time for people to buy major household items?"
   

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• Click here for more on how the ICS is calculated.

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The ICS uses a 1966 baseline, i.e. for 1966, the ICS = 100. So any number that is below the 1966 baseline of 100 means that the folks who were polled recently aren't as optimistic about the U.S. economy as those polled back in 1966.

The ICS is similar to the Consumer Confidence Index in that they both measure consumer attitudes and offer valuable insight into consumer spending.

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The "predicted" figure is what economists were expecting, while the "actual" is the true or real figure.

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• Click here to view the full University of Michigan report.

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