The latest University of Michigan numbers for May came in at 44.8, way below normal levels. People are exhausted by higher gas prices and rising costs for basic stuff, and fears around the Strait of Hormuz are making inflation worries even worse.
A lot of Americans just feel like everything keeps getting more expensive while politicians argue about everything except the cost of living.
NEWS: U.S. Consumer Sentiment has officially fallen to the lowest level ever recorded in data going back to 1952, plunging another 10% last month.
Consumers now expect inflation to hit 4.8% over the next 12 months.
Sentiment is down 21% since February 2026, before the Iran War,… pic.twitter.com/uH12CKQbVK
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 22, 2026
This is starting to look less like temporary fear and more like structural stress inside the US economy.
Consumer sentiment is now sitting at record lows while inflation expectations continue rising.
Historically, when confidence collapses this aggressively, consumer spending… https://t.co/GIZV7NSs5j
— Lucky (@LLuciano_BTC) May 22, 2026