Conference Board Confidence Slides In January, Inflation Expectations Rebounded

Analysts expected The Conference Board’s Confidence survey to improve marginally in January with the present situation holding remarkably strong given the chaos seen everywhere else in the US economy. The actual print disappointed expectations (107.1 vs 109.0 exp), hurt by a slip in Expectations (from 83.4 to 77.8) as Present Situation rose (from 147.4 to 150.0). The Present Situation is at the highest since April 2022…

Source: Bloomberg

The Conference Board’s measure of labor market tightness improved for the second month in a row (more jobs plentiful vs hard to get) in January…

Source: Bloomberg

The Conference Board’s sentiment remains notably decoupled from UMich’s sentiment measure…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, The Conference Board’s gauge of one-year inflation expectations rebounded from its lowest since August 2021 (from 6.6% to 6.8%…

Source: Bloomberg

That’s not what Mr.Powell wants to see.