Lower gasoline prices helped push the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index higher in June, pointing to a sense of financial breathing room even as the reading hovered near historic lows and concerns about the cost of living persisted.
The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index in June rebounded from May's record low. But it remains the second lowest going back to the 1970s
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Lower gasoline prices helped push the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index higher in June, pointing to a sense of financial breathing room even as the reading hovered near historic lows and concerns about the cost of living persisted.
June's final Consumer Sentiment Index reading was 49.5, a climb from May's record-setting low of 44.8 and well short of the 60.7 posted in June 2025. The index remains the second lowest in data going back to the 1970s, according to Bloomberg. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a final reading of 50.0, according to Reuters.
The June rebound snapped a three-month run of declines. Gains were recorded across income, wealth, and political affiliation. The Index of Consumer Expectations climbed to 50.7 from 44.1 in May, a 15% increase, while the Current Economic Conditions Index rose to 47.7 from 45.8.
Despite the monthly improvement, sentiment sits 13% below the Feb. 2026 reading recorded before the start of the Iran conflict and nearly 20% below a year ago.
Joanne Hsu, director of the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers and a University of Michigan economist, noted that falling gas prices were welcome but insufficient to ease the broader squeeze on household finances. "Consumers remain quite worried about the prospect of inflation eroding their living standards in the year ahead," she added.
High prices drew spontaneous complaints from more than half of all survey respondents — a pattern that has now held for three months running, according to the survey. A substantial 36% of respondents identified inflation as the greater economic risk in the year ahead — the highest share since Feb. 2025 — while only 7% cited unemployment.
Expectations for price increases over the coming twelve months dipped to 4.6% from 4.8% in May, though that figure remains well above February's 3.4% reading and every comparable reading from 2024. Over a longer horizon, the five-to-ten-year inflation outlook retreated to 3.3% after spiking to 3.9% in May, but that reading still sits above the 2.8%-to-3.2% band that prevailed throughout 2024.
A 16% surge in consumers' five-year business-conditions outlook led Hsu to interpret the data as a sign that households view any economic damage from the Iran conflict as a temporary rather than lasting phenomenon.
Stock market gains lifted the personal finances of some consumers, but the benefit was concentrated. About 28% of consumers in the highest tercile of stock holdings cited favorable asset values — the highest share since Jan. 2025 — compared with 8% in the middle tercile and 4% among those with the smallest holdings.
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