Led by plummeting outlooks on the state of their personal finances, consumers’ attitudes about the health of the U.S. economy worsened in November from the month before, according to preliminary survey results published by the University of Michigan on Friday.
The university’s index of consumer sentiment slid 3.3 points to 50.3 in November, a more than 6% decline from October and a nearly 30% decline from last year.
The monthly index assesses evolving consumer attitudes on current and future business conditions, personal finances, job prospects, wages and inflation.
All component indexes retreated, with consumers’ outlook on current economic conditions falling 10.8% monthly and 18.2% over the year. Expectations for improving economic conditions fell 2.6% from October after remaining essentially flat the month before, to land 36.3% lower than last year’s levels.
“This month’s decline in sentiment was widespread throughout the population, seen across age, income and political affiliation,” noted Joanne Hsu, director of Surveys of Consumers at the university, in a press release.
Since early 2025, anxieties over employment and rising consumer prices have anchored the index near multiyear lows. Those concerns worsened in November, amplified by the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.
“With the federal government shutdown dragging on for over a month, consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative consequences for the economy,” explained Hsu of consumers’ worsening outlook for the current state of the economy.
Last month, the university reported “little evidence” that the shutdown had shifted consumers’ views of the economy.
Data collection for November’s report ended prior to Tuesday’s off-year elections, which saw Democrats outperform in state and local races. The election outcome is widely seen as a rebuke of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy nine months into his second term.
Since the shutdown commenced on Oct. 1, however, gauging the health of the U.S. economy through closely watched employment and inflation indicators has grown more difficult because federal data collection and reporting offices are temporarily closed.
A one-off print of the consumer price index (CPI), a common measure of inflation, was published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in late October to satisfy statutory Social Security requirements.
The CPI reflected 3% growth in September, well above the Federal Reserve’s stated 2% target for annualized growth.
Higher-than-target inflation was not enough to shift the strategy of Federal Reserve policymakers from their focus on bolstering weak labor markets, leading to a 0.25% reduction in the benchmark borrowing rate for the second consecutive month.
With the Fed casting doubt on an additional rate cut in December, the University of Michigan’s sentiment report cited one demographic outlier to consumers’ generalized economic malaise. Respondents with the largest one-third of stock holdings reported an 11% monthly increase in sentiment, an outlook bolstered by stock valuations that have continued climbing to new records. This cohort has consistently reported a brighter economic outlook.
