Florida’s consumer sentiment has increased slightly in January, reaching the correction of 86.7 to 86.9 in December. This is in contrast to the first decline of about 3 points, which is the first decline in six months.
Floridans have a more positive view of the current economic situation, but are worried about the future. The increase in emotions was mainly due to the improvement of expenditure intentions. However, the expectation of the Federal Reserve, which has been paused to suspend interest rate reduction, has declined because inflation has exceeded the target of 2 %. In this situation, the family, especially the borrower, is more susceptible to the double pressure of inflation and high interest rates.
Two of the five components of the centment index have increased, and three have decreased. Optimism on personal financial situation has improved and rises from 61.6 to 62.6. The view that it was a good time to buy major home supplies such as refrigerators, 4.7 points jumped to 78 points, the highest in four years. However, the older Florida (60 years old or older) and the earners of less than $ 50 were not optimistic.
The boosting of the intention of expenditures may be related to concerns about trade policy, and consumers may expect to rise in price due to tariffs and inflation during the progress.
Conversely, trust in future economic situations has decreased. Expectations for personal financial situations one year later have dropped slightly from 102.6 to 102.3. Women and those who earned more than $ 50,000 had more positive expectations than others. The US economic situation in the United States has decreased from 99.4 to 96.5, but expectations for the next five years have decreased from 96.5 to 95.2.
In the future, the uncertainty from new immigrants and trade policies may affect consumer emotions. Tracking these changes is important to understand how consumer’s attitude will affect.
The survey conducted from December to January contained 578 participants representing Florida cross sections. The index used was benchmarked in 1966, with 100 values that show the same level of reliability as that year. For more information, see bebr.ufl.edu/florida-consumer-sentiment/.
