UMich Sentiment Surges In April… But Inflation Expectations Drop?

The Final April print for UMich sentiment data was expected to improve on the already impressive surge in the preliminary data and it did rising from 86.5 to 88.3 intramonth (up from 84.9 in March) to a new pandemic cycle high. The gauge of expectations picked up in the last part of April, rising to 82.7 from a preliminary reading of 79.7. A reading of current conditions remained unchanged at 97.2 from earlier in the month, according to surveys conducted March 24 to April 26.

Source: Bloomberg

Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all saw sentiment rise for the second straight month…

Oddly, given the handouts’ focus, the lowest-income Americans saw sentiment decline as the wealthiest confidence soared…

“The largest and most important change in the economic outlook in April was that an all-time record number of consumers expected declines in the unemployment rate in the year ahead,” Richard Curtin, director of the survey, said in a report.

“The data indicate an exceptional outlook.”

Finally, and somewhat oddly, consumers reportedly expect inflation to rise 3.4% in the next year, significantly down from the 3.7% preliminary estimate. It is still the highest since 2012.

Which is odd as every price of every asset everywhere has done nothing but rise during the month.