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Consumer Sentiment: A Mixed Bag for March

Written by Oliver Laker on April 3, 2011.

2011 is supposed to be the year for comebacks. As more people emerge from the wreckage of the Great Recession and slowly rebuild their finances, feel-good reports are popping up everywhere, profiling the comeback kids of 2010 who were knocked down by the financial crisis, but came back stronger — with a better job, an unexpected calling or a renewed financial outlook. But not everyone is feeling so optimistic. The March jobs report released today gave us the best jobs news we’ve heard all year after the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level in two years. But experts caution that although the private sector is hiring, the public sector is still losing jobs right and left – and, at this rate, it will be years before unemployment reaches pre-recession levels. Meanwhile, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence index fell sharply in March after ticking upward for the past five months. Economists say that higher food and gas prices, fears of inflation and pessimistic expectations about job growth all contributed to consumers’ dour mood this month. “The sharp decline in confidence was prompted by a sharp decline in expectations,” said the Conference Board’s Lynn Franco in a statement. “Consumers’ inflation expectations rose significantly in March and their income expectations soured, a combination that will likely impact spending decisions.” Bloomberg also released a Consumer Comfort Index on Thursday, but with slightly more optimistic results. Researchers there found that consumer confidence rose this week after about half of all consumers surveyed said that they were feeling at least somewhat better about their finances. That said, the uptick in confidence was modest and followed a seven-month low the previous week, according to Bloomberg. The overwhelming majority of consumers also reported holding a dim view of the U.S. economy – despite the slow recovery. To top it off, a recent TransUnion poll found that two-thirds of adults are still feeling stressed by money and finances, and psychologists say this could be bad news for consumers’ health if the stress persists too long. According to health experts, long-term financial stress can seriously impact consumers’ health, dampen their productivity and even lead to physical illness. And the longer it persists, the worse it gets – causing many to wonder: When is the financial stress ever going to end?