Consumer sentiment rises for the first time in three months

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Business

Updated Jun 12, 2026, 10:48 AM ET
PUBLISHED Jun 12, 2026, 10:06 AM ET


Washington - Consumer sentiment may finally be recovering after falling to historic lows due to wartime price spikes. The University of Michigan’s latest survey of Americans, released Friday, showed that sentiment rose 9% to a preliminary reading of 48.9 early this month, the first increase since February, before the United States and Israel’s destabilizing war with Iran sent global energy prices surging.

Gas prices, which heavily influence people’s perception of the economy, climbed in the several weeks after the war began, pushing sentiment down to a record low — twice. Gas prices have declined in recent weeks, which helped sentiment recover.

“This month, consumer sentiment ticked up… with consumers experiencing some relief due to the early-month easing in gasoline prices,” Joanne Hsu, the surveys’ director, said in a release. “Lower-income consumers exhibited a particularly strong sentiment increase, consistent with the fact that gasoline comprises a larger share of their budgets.”

Sentiment is finally up from a level lower than anything seen during foreign wars, 9/11, the Great Recession, the pandemic, and any prior bouts of high inflation in the post-World War II era.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/12/economy/us-consumer-sentiment-inflation-june

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From the Source - University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers - Preliminary Results for June 2026 (dynamic link)

[ck4829]

1. "Gas went down a penny, Republicans are better than Jesus!" - 30% of the voters, apparently

[Ziggysmom]

2. I call bullshit

Food, rent, insurance, medical care are all overpriced, while wages are too low.

[Ritabert]

3. BS. Things are not better and won't be getting better.

[Wiz Imp]

4. Good God, a one-month slight uptick does not remotely indicate....

... that "Consumer sentiment may finally be recovering". What a totally pathetic take by CNN.

[maxsolomon]

5. What the F for?

Because gas went down below $6/gallon?

Nothing in the Grocery Store went down.

[Bengus81]

6. Such BS journalism. It says it sentiment HAS in the click bait tag line. Then it says MAY

when you actually read the story.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. This is UMich's "preliminary" report

Their final is near the end of the month and might be more reflective!

[Lemon Lyman]

8. -

Funny how that works when the media aren't hammering "Eggs!" "30 gallons of milk per week!" "I did that" signs on gas pumps. Diner focus groups to see what some small group of dipshits think THIS week (we already heard from them LAST week).

None of that garbage exists now that a Democrat isn't president.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Oh 45 got hammered with last month's report!

Especially since it hit a record low - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143668631

[SamuelAdams]

10. It is still awful.

He just avoided setting another record low this month.After Bush and him, maybe we should stop electing "businessmen" to run the country.

[Cheezoholic]

11. Repukse economic. You pay me $5 for a $2 product I'll give you $1 in change. Yay n/t

[progree]

12. GRAPH for a little perspective

Last 10 Years - https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/files/chicsr.pdf
It's a little uptick (the dotted gray line is the monthly data points) that doesn't even bend the 3 month rolling average (the solid blue line)



============================================

Last 50 Years:
https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/files/chicsh.pdf
The uptick doesn't show up, I suspect because it's graphing a rolling 3-month average, maybe a longer period than 3 months. Anyway, the latest is clearly well below the lowest level going back to the beginning of the graph in 1961.