With the release of the Conference Board’s Confidence Index, and the SF Fed’s News Sentiment Index, we have the following picture:

Figure 1: U.Michigan Economic Sentiment (blue), Conference Board Confidence Index (brown), SF news sentiment index (light green), all demeaned and divided by standard deviation 2021M01-2025m02. Red dashed line at “Liberation Day” Source: UMichigan, Gallup, Conference Board, and author’s calculations.

The Conference Board’s index remains mired at fairly low levels, although higher than pandemic period levels.