And Now, What The Consumer Really Thinks: Gallup Poll Finds Confidence Tumbles To 2014 Lows

With stocks at record-er and record-er highs, TPTB must be confused as as to how confused the American public is. While ‘government’ data showed confidence at Jan 08 highs, Gallup’s latest survey shows, only one in five Americans (22%) say the economy is excellent or good, while 34% say it is poor; and worse still, Americans continue to be less optimistic about the economy’s future – 38% say the economy is getting better, while 58% say it is getting worse – the worst differential since 2013. Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index lost another point last week, the third week in a row, dropping to its lowest in over 2 months. The bottom line, sadly, is that in spit of all the sound and fury, Americans may not have shifted much in their perceptions of the economy’s current status, but over the past month, they have become more negative about the economy’s future.

Despite Government-sponsored surveys of confidence suggesting Americans are their happiest since 2008, Gallup has a different perspective…

Via Gallup,

Gallup’s U.S. Economic Confidence Index lost another point last week, the third week in a row the index has dropped by one point. At -16 for the week ending June 22, the index is the lowest it’s been since April…

Currently, about one in five Americans (22%) say the economy is excellent or good, while 34% say it is poor…

But Americans continue to be less optimistic about the economy’s future. Thirty-eight percent say the economy is getting better, while 58% say it is getting worse, for an economic outlook score of -20 — a five-point drop from the previous week. This is the most negative Americans have been about the economy’s future since December 2013.

Bottom Line

Americans may not have shifted much in their perceptions of the economy’s current status, but over the past month, they have become more negative about the economy’s future.

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It seems Gallup forgot to call the same Wall Street CEOs that the government did to survey confidence… but that hasn’t stopped such epic thinkers as Joe Lavorgna extrapolating…

Rising confidence corroborates view that “geopolitically-driven rise in oil and gasoline prices has been inconsequential for households thus far,” Joseph Lavorgna, economist at Deutsche Bank, writes in note.

Gain in June confidence index suggests relief from winter utility costs is “dominant theme” for consumers

Aside from the fact that the gains in confidence were all in the Pacific (as Mountain and Central regions tumbled) and all in the older wealthier American as Under-35s plunged… and Gallup appears to represent that reality a little better than the apparently manufactured government data.