Easing gas prices lifts consumer sentiment from all-time lows

The report’s consumer confidence index improved by about four index points, or 9%, compared to May. Feelings improved across age, education, and political party.

Consumer Manager Surveys Joan Hsu He attributed the gains to lower gas prices in early June.

“Low-income consumers showed a particularly strong increase in sentiment, consistent with the fact that gasoline makes up a larger share of their budgets,” Hsu said.

This marked a shift in consumer sentiment. The index fell to a record low in May, driven by… Gas price Fears and fears related to the war in the Middle East. The previous record low was set a month ago, in April, for the same reasons. These readings were the lowest in the more than 73-year history of the Consumer Confidence Index.

Latest edition of Conference Board‘s Consumer confidence indexreleased May 26, also found that Gas prices Concerns about war-related inflation caused consumer confidence to decline in May. The Conference Board said at the time that consumer written responses on factors affecting the economy continued to “skew toward pessimism” in May, and that references to prices and oil and gas increased for the second month in a row.

Despite gains seen in early June in newly released consumer surveys, consumer sentiment in the latest survey remained 13% lower than it was in January and 19% lower than it was in June 2025, Hsu said. Consumers “continue to focus on kitchen table issues,” she added.

“They feel burdened by the recent surge in inflation and are concerned that high inflation may remain stubborn in the future, especially in the short term,” Hsu said.

Preliminary results for June showed consumer inflation expectations for next year at 4.6%, a decline from the 4.8% recorded in May but well above the 3.4% reading seen in February, before the Iranian conflict began.

Consumers’ long-term inflation expectations were 3.4%, down from 3.9% in June.