American consumer morale is at one-and-a-half year-minimum

In January, American consumer confidence headed south to a 1-1/2 year-minimum due to the fact that a partial shutdown of the US cabinet as well as financial markets turmoil left American households somewhat anxious about the US economy's prospects.

The dive in confidence posted by the Conference Board on Tuesday actually mirrors another poll conducted earlier this month that showed that sentiment tumbled to its lowest value since Donald Trump was elected, backing experts’ assurance that the American economy was losing momentum.

In January, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index headed south by 6.4% ending up with 120.2. It appears to be the lowest outcome since July 2017. Experts explain the third monthly dive in a row by financial market volatility as well as the government shutdown.

The poll’s expectations measure headed south to levels last observed in October 2016. The longest shutdown in the history of the United States concluded on Friday when US leader and Congress agreed to temporary government financing, without funds for his US-Mexico border wall. As the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office points out, the American conomy was deprived of $11 billion for the five-week shutdown.

With the government shutdown as well as financial markets stabilizing, a number of experts actually expect a rebound in confidence in the nearer future.

However, others don’t demonstrate such a confidence, drawing attention to the fact that for the last three months the Conference Board's confidence index has gone down 17.7 points, which appears to be the most impressive decrease since 2011.

American Treasury prices went up on the confidence data. At the same time, the evergreen buck was nearly intact versus a group of its rivals. As for American equities, they generally tumbled reacting to fears about the approaching US-China trade negotiations.

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