The final reading of the Index of Consumer Sentiment was 57.0 in March, below the preliminary reading of 57.9.

• The Current Economic Conditions index was down -2.9% MoM to 63.8, and the Index of Consumer Expectations crashed -17.8% YoY to 52.6.
• The Expectations index is now down more than -30% since November 2024.
• This month’s decline reflects a clear consensus across all demographic and political affiliations; Republicans joined independents and Democrats in expressing worsening expectations since February for their personal finances, business conditions, unemployment, and inflation.

Year-ahead inflation expectations jumped up from 4.3% last month to 5.0% this month, the highest reading since November 2022.

• Long-run inflation expectations surged from 3.5% in February to 4.1% in March, reflecting from a large surge among independents plus a sizable rise among Republicans.
• This marks three consecutive months of unusually large increases of 0.5 ppts or more. This month’s rise was seen across all three political affiliations.