Washington (awp / dpa) – US consumers were particularly worried in November, due to 30-year high inflation, and their confidence plummeted, according to the final estimate of the University survey of Michigan released Wednesday.
The index stands at 67.4 points, a little better, however, than what had been anticipated in the preliminary estimate (66.8 points), published in mid-November. But that marks a very steep drop from 71.7 points in October.
“Consumers expressed less optimism in the November 2021 survey, than at any time in the past decade, about the outlook for their own finances as well as for the economy as a whole,” commented in the press release Richard Curtin, the economist in charge of this survey, which is very popular with the markets.
He points out that the decline is due to “rapidly escalating inflation combined with the absence of federal policies that would effectively repair the damage inflated to household budgets.”
Joe Biden assured that the fight against inflation is one of his priorities. Consumer prices have, in fact, continued their escalation in October in the United States, up 5% over one year, their largest increase since 1990, according to the PCE index of the Commerce Department also released Wednesday.
The prices of energy alone have soared by 30.2% compared to October 2020, those of food soared by 4.8%.
Another measure, the CPI index, released ten days ago, showed a similar trend, with prices rising 6.2% year-on-year, the highest since November 1990.
afp / al
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