The Conference Board Consumer Confidence index fell in March to 92.9, down 7.2 points from February, marking the fourth consecutive decline month-to-month.

The March drop comes just over a month after the University of Michigan released its U.S. consumer sentiment survey, which revealed that year-ahead inflation expectations increased drastically to 4.3% in February.

The is “likely in response to recent market volatility, consumers turned negative about the stock market for the first time since the end of 2023,” The Conference Board Senior Economist of Global Indicators Stephanie Guichard said in a March 25 release.

Get Our 1Q25 MDM Forecast Report (Premium access here) 

Guichard added: “Consumers’ expectations were especially gloomy, with pessimism about future business conditions deepening and confidence about future employment prospects falling to a 12-year low. Meanwhile, consumers’ optimism about future income — which had held up quite strongly in the past few months — largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers’ assessments of their personal situations.”The Present Situation Index — based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — fell by 3.6 points to 134.5.

The Expectations Index — based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions — declined by 9.6 points to 65.2.

MDM’s 4Q24 MarketPulse Report (store link) 

Expectations reported the lowest level in 12 years and was well below the threshold of 80 that usually signals a recession ahead.

“March’s fall in confidence was driven by consumers over 55 years old and, to a lesser extent, those between 35 and 55 years old,” Guichard said. “By contrast, confidence rose slightly among consumers under 35, as an uptick in their assessments of the present situation more than offset gloomier expectations.”