The Conference Board released the May 2025 Consumer Confidence Index®, reporting that consumer confidence increased by 12.3 points in May to 98.0, up from 85.7 in April.
The cut-off date for preliminary results was May 19, 2025, and about half of the responses were collected after the May 12 announcement of a pause on some tariffs on imports from China.
All age groups and income groups experienced a rebound in confidence. However, on a six-month moving average basis, confidence in all age and income groups was still down due to previous monthly declines.
“Consumer confidence improved in May after five consecutive months of decline,” says Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, global indicators at The Conference Board. “The rebound was already visible before the May 12 US-China trade deal, but gained momentum afterwards. The monthly improvement was largely driven by consumer expectations as all three components of the Expectations Index—business conditions, employment prospects, and future income—rose from their April lows. Consumers were less pessimistic about business conditions and job availability over the next six months and regained optimism about future income prospects. Consumers’ assessments of the present situation also improved. However, while consumers were more positive about current business conditions than last month, their appraisal of current job availability weakened for the fifth consecutive month.”
The Expectations Index, which is based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, increased by 17.4 points to 72.8, but remained below the threshold of 80, which typically signals a recession, according to the press release.
The next Consumer Confidence Index will be released June 24 at 10 a.m. ET.
The Conference Board, founded in 1916, is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that delivers Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead®.
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