{"id":47347,"date":"2025-09-13T03:38:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T08:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47347"},"modified":"2025-09-13T02:00:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:00:21","slug":"consumer-sentiment-worsens-as-some-economists-warn-of-stagflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=47347","title":{"rendered":"Consumer sentiment worsens as some economists warn of ‘stagflation’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Consumer sentiment dampened in September, extending a decline<\/a> from the previous month as government data showed a hiring slowdown<\/a> alongside an uptick of inflation<\/a>, prompting concern about an economic double-whammy called “stagflation<\/a>.” The reading came in lower than economists expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-month downturn in shopper attitudes resumes a decline that took hold after Trump took office, University of Michigan Survey data on Friday showed. At its low point, consumer sentiment fell close to its worst level since a bout of inflation three years ago. The measure remains below where it stood in December, before Trump took office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Year-ahead inflation expectations held steady from August at 4.8%, the data showed. The outcome anticipated by respondents would put inflation well above its current level of 2.9%. Long-run inflation expectations ticked up for the second consecutive month, data showed.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report arrived a day after an inflation reading showed<\/a> an uptick in price increases in August as President Donald Trump’s tariff policy intensified. Inflation stands at its highest level since January, though it remains less than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, is a key bellwether for the outlook of the nation’s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fresh survey of consumer sentiment came at a wobbly moment for the nation’s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A jobs report last week\u00a0showed<\/a>\u00a0a sharp decrease in hiring in August, extending a lackluster period for the labor market. Meanwhile, a revision of previous hiring estimates on Tuesday\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0the U.S. economy added far fewer jobs in 2024 and early 2025 than previously estimated, deepening concern about the health of the U.S. job market.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weak jobs data has raised alarm among some analysts that the U.S. economy may be slipping toward a recession<\/a>, though the economy has largely averted the type of widespread job losses that often accompany a downturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic conditions have put Federal Reserve policymakers in a bind. If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation, it risks tipping the economy into a downturn. On the other hand, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a hiring slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the flagging labor market, the Fed is expected to cut interest rates when policymakers meet next week. Investors peg the chances of a quarter-point rate cut this month at about 92% and the odds of a half-point cut at roughly 7%, according to CME FedWatch Tool<\/a>, a measure of market sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consumer sentiment dampened in September, extending a decline from the previous month as government data showed a hiring slowdown alongside an uptick of inflation, prompting concern about an economic double-whammy called “stagflation.” The reading came in lower than economists expected. The two-month downturn in shopper attitudes resumes a decline that took hold after Trump took office, University of Michigan Survey […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":47348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1155],"tags":[3011,1907,1652],"class_list":["post-47347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-consumer","tag-economists","tag-sentiment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47349,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47347\/revisions\/47349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}