Consumer Confidence report to get released on Tuesday with analysts predicting it will decrease.
As the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the world, investors will discover how it is impacting consumer confidence on Tuesday.
According to Yahoo Finance, the Conference Board is set to release its consumer confidence report for March, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the number to drop to 110.o from 130.7 just a month ago.
The March report will be an incomplete depiction of the COVID-19 outbreak because it was surveyed earlier in the month. “Although lower mortgage rates and gasoline prices would provide some relief to household cash flows, the country-wide shutdown measures, sharp stock market sell-off, and worse news on contagion should push optimism lower,” Credit Suisse said in a note March 26. “The deterioration in consumer sentiment is likely to get worse in April as shutdowns and layoffs take a toll on confidence.”
Not everyone is experiencing lousy news. Conagra Brands released its quarterly earnings. The company says it has experienced “significantly increased demand” in the fourth quarter and expects to exceed expectations. “While we are still early in our fourth quarter, we have seen significantly elevated demand for our retail products as consumers have started filling their pantries for more at-home eating,” Chief Executive San Connolly said in a statement.
In relevant news, Wall Street economists forecast things will get worse in the future.
Ian Shepherdson, a chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, says things will get worse. “We now guesstimate that second-quarter GDP will drop at a 10% annualized rate, after a 2% fall in Q1,” said Ian Shepherdson, said in a note to clients last Monday. His forecast suggests consumer spending will decrease in the next few months. “We are becoming more pessimistic about the near-term economic outlook,” Shepherdson says.