U.S. consumer confidence sinks to a nearly 12-year low

U.S. consumer confidence tumbled in September to its weakest reading since 2014, the Conference Board said, as Americans grew more anxious about business conditions, jobs and the cost of living amid high oil prices and the Iran war’s economic spillover.

The board’s Consumer Confidence Index dropped 6.7 points to 81.9, well below the 89 reading economists polled by Dow Jones had expected and down from 88.6 in August. The present-situation index fell 7.9 points to 109.3, while the expectations index — which tracks the six-month outlook — slipped 5.9 points to 63.6, its third straight monthly decline. Chief economist Dana Peterson said assessments of current business conditions turned “negative” for the first time since 2024, and that mentions of prices, expensive goods and services, and oil and gas hit a record high in open-ended answers.

The survey ran online from September 1 to 23. Markets had already been wrestling with multi-decade highs in long-dated Treasury yields and a choppy equity session Tuesday as investors weighed Federal Reserve commentary and this week’s inflation and jobs data. New York Fed President John Williams’s remark that there is “no urgency” for another hike cooled near-term rate bets, but the confidence print underscores how households are feeling the squeeze before those numbers land.

For Canada, a gloomier U.S. consumer matters as much as any tariff schedule: American households still buy the bulk of Canadian exports. Soft confidence plus the trade war’s border friction raises the risk that retailers and manufacturers on both sides of the line pull back on holiday inventory and capital spending — a demand shock Ottawa cannot negotiate away.

Not investment advice.

Sources: US Consumer Confidence Fell in September — The Conference Board / PR Newswire: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-consumer-confidence-fell-in-september-302892867.html | Americans' opinion of economy drops to lowest level since 2014 — PBS News / AP: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/americans-opinion-of-economy-drops-to-lowest-level-since-2014 | Consumer optimism slides to lowest since 2014 — CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/29/consumer-optimism-slides-sharply-as-fears-escalate-over-rising-prices-and-jobs.html