WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans’ confidence in the economy declined this month as gasoline prices resumed rising as the U.S. and Iran stepped up interest rate hikes. finding.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday: consumer confidence index It was 90.8 in July, down from 92.2 in June. This is essentially the same tepid range we’ve had since the beginning of the year. From late 2024 to early 2025, the reading was well above 100.
Consumer attitudes improved slightly in June as gasoline prices fell to around $3.70 a gallon from more than $4.50 in late April and early May. But as fighting in the Middle East intensified, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States began to rise again. As of Tuesday, it was $4.10, according to auto club AAA.
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil passes, after attacks by the United States and Israel in late February, causing gas prices to soar. That accelerated inflation and reduced inflation-adjusted incomes for Americans.
After five years of economic growth, Americans are still feeling bad about the economy. inflationpotentially pose a risk There are less than 100 days left until the midterm elections between President Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
President Trump continues to blame his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for inflation. However, since President Trump took office last year, the inflation rate has increased, from 3% in January 2025 to 3.5%. After the Iran war began on February 28, inflation rose from just 2.4%.
Written responses to the survey, collected between July 1 and July 22, remained pessimistic. The board said references to petrol prices had fallen slightly but were still rising. Respondents’ mentions of food and grocery prices increased.
Government data shows the price of takeaway food has increased by 33% since the start of 2019. To survive these price increases, Americans Coupons, looked at comparison shopping and cut back As we absorb the biggest jump in food prices in half a century, we focus on our favorite foods.
Representative beef Grocery prices are out of control for many Americans. The price of a pound of ground beef reached $6.82 in June, up 79% from the beginning of 2019, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Mentions of jobs and unemployment increased slightly this month, but views on the current job market declined. Expectations for what the labor market will look like over the next six months improved slightly, but remained in negative territory.
U.S. employers slowed hiring last month, adding just 57,000 jobs, less than half of total payrolls. Previous month total. The unemployment rate fell to a low level of 4.2% from 4.3% in May, but this decline was mainly due to many unemployed people giving up looking for work and no longer being counted as unemployed.
Although the number of consumers mentioning war and geopolitics has decreased this month, the committee suspects that the recent escalation in fighting between Iran and the United States may increase those mentions in the next survey.
