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US consumer confidence falls to its lowest level in more than a decade

The Conference Board index dropped 6.7 points to 81.9, the weakest reading since 2014.

Assembled by Claude from 15 sources at 15 outlets · Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Morning edition, 10:24 AM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell by 6.7 points to 81.9 in September, following two prior months of softening wsj.com. That is the lowest level since 2014 aljazeera.comcnbc.commishtalk.com. The Hill and Marketplace described the reading as a 12-year low thehill.commarketplace.org. The research group attributed the fall to elevated oil prices and inflation worries wsj.com.

A separate sentiment gauge told the same story. Its final results for September showed the Index for Consumer Sentiment declined by 7% compared with a month ago pymnts.com. Retail Dive reported sentiment at a four-month low, while noting consumers have shown no matching pullback in spending retaildive.com. Al Jazeera said the drop landed ahead of the midterms aljazeera.com.

Reuters-syndicated coverage carried by WITN described households facing rising costs as confidence fell to a 12-year low witn.com.

Why it matters to investors

Spending has held up even as the mood has not. Spending by wealthier families has masked cuts by lower-income families, which is why consumer spending has stayed resilient marketplace.org. Yahoo Finance and Semafor tied the fall to unexpectedly weak jobs figures and elevated energy prices finance.yahoo.comsemafor.com.

The labour market reading inside the survey was the weakest part. Finding a job felt hardest since 2021 in the Conference Board survey seekingalpha.com. CNBC reported that optimism slid to its lowest since 2014 as fears escalated over rising prices and jobs cnbc.com. Price concerns hit new highs in the same survey pymnts.com.

What to watch

One forecaster said any near-term rebound in sentiment will largely hinge on when global oil supplies stabilise, and whether drivers see relief at the pump witn.com. Sentiment has been weighed down by Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and by geopolitical tensions bastillepost.com. The Federal Reserve is set to make another decision on interest rates at its October 27-28 meeting aljazeera.com.

For historical scale, the University of Michigan survey, which has tracked consumer attitudes for 50 years, hit a record low of its own this past April abc15.com. TheStreet noted that confidence had softened through the summer before September's move surprised forecasters ahead of the holidays thestreet.com.

MishTalk cautioned that the Conference Board report is not the only gauge, and that consumer sentiment sits just above record lows mishtalk.com. Al Jazeera placed the reading in the political calendar, noting that it lands ahead of the midterms and adds pressure on Republicans as sentiment tumbles aljazeera.com.

Sources

  1. marketplace.org: Consumer confidence falls to its lowest level in 12 years, survey shows - Marketplace (2026-09-29)
  2. retaildive.com: Inflation slams consumer sentiment to 4-month low - Retail Dive (2026-09-30)
  3. pymnts.com: Conference Board Finds Consumer Price Concerns Hit New Highs | PYMNTS.com (2026-09-30)
  4. finance.yahoo.com: US consumer sentiment hits lowest level in more than a decade - Yahoo Finance (2026-09-30)
  5. witn.com: Consumer confidence falls to 12-year low as households face rising costs - WITN (2026-09-30)
  6. thestreet.com: Inflation frustration boils over as consumer confidence takes an unexpected turn ahead ... - TheStreet (2026-09-30)
  7. aljazeera.com: US consumer confidence hits its lowest level since 2014 ahead of midterms - Al Jazeera (2026-09-29)
  8. thehill.com: Consumer confidence drops to lowest level in more than a decade - The Hill (2026-09-29)
  9. bastillepost.com: U.S. September consumer confidence sinks to lowest level in over 12 years: survey (2026-09-30)
  10. abc15.com: Consumer confidence falls to lowest level since 2014, Conference Board survey finds (2026-09-30)
  11. cnbc.com: Consumer optimism slides to lowest since 2014 as fears escalate over rising prices and jobs (2026-09-29)
  12. mishtalk.com: US Consumer Confidence Plunges to the Lowest Level Since 2014 - MishTalk (2026-09-29)
  13. seekingalpha.com: Finding a job feels hardest since 2021 in Conference Board survey (US10Y:) | Seeking Alpha (2026-09-29)
  14. wsj.com: U.S. Consumer Confidence Fell in September Amid Elevated Oil Prices, Inflation Worries, Conference Board Says (2026-09-29)
  15. semafor.com: US consumer sentiment hits lowest level in more than a decade (2026-09-29)