Conference Board Tumbles In Feb As ‘Hope’ Slumps

Analysts expected The Conference Board’s Confidence survey to improve marginally in February with the present situation holding remarkably strong given the chaos seen everywhere else in the US economy. The actual print disappointed significantly (102.9 vs 108.5 exp), hurt by a big drop in Expectations (from a revised 76.0 to 69.7) while the Present Situation continued to rise (from 151.1 to 152.8). The Present Situation is at the highest since April 2022…

Source: Bloomberg

The Conference Board’s gauge of one-year inflation expectations tumbled (after a rebound in January) to its lowest since April 2021…

Source: Bloomberg

Additionally, buying plans are tumbling…

The Conference Board’s sentiment remains notably decoupled from UMich’s sentiment measure…

Finally, the Conference Board’s measure of labor market tightness improved for the third month in a row (more jobs plentiful vs hard to get) in February…

Source: Bloomberg

That’s not what Mr.Powell wants to see.