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The
latest consumer confidence report from business group The
Conference Board will be released Tuesday. Wall Street expects
the report to show that confidence in the U.S. economy fell
again in August after slipping in July.
Consumer confidence has been weak most of the year as inflation
remains stubbornly high. The U.S. war with Iran helped fuel
inflation by stifling oil supplies worldwide. That raised
gasoline prices, squeezing household budgets. It has also raised
costs for shipping a wide range of products, from groceries to
clothing.
Wall Street will get another important inflation update on
Wednesday when the U.S. releases its report on personal
consumption expenditures, or PCE, for July. It is the Federal
Reserve's preferred measure of inflation. Much like the consumer
price index, it has shown that the rate of inflation remains
stubbornly above 3%.
The Fed has been struggling to get inflation back to its target
rate of 2%. It came close in early 2025 but then inflation
started creeping higher as the U.S. imposed a wide range of
tariffs globally. The rate of inflation leaped higher in early
2026 as the Iran war curtailed global oil shipments from the
Strait of Hormuz.
The Fed is expected to continue holding its benchmark interest
rate steady at its upcoming meeting in September.
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