Jun 30, 2026 3:11 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' attitudes toward the economy improved slightly this month as gas prices declined, but their outlook is still mostly negative by historical standards.
The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 0.6 point to 91.2 in June, a figure that is still below its year-ago reading of 95.2. Consumer attitudes worsened after the Iran war caused oil and gas prices to spike, accelerating inflation and causing Americans' inflation-adjusted incomes to decline. Before the pandemic, the index regularly topped 120.
READ MORE: U.S. gas prices just fell below $4 for 1st time since March. They're still 25% higher than last year
The report suggests that consumer confidence is recovering only slowly from the hit caused by the Iran war. Even so, Americans have continued to spend despite their dour outlook, which has kept the economy growing even as inflation accelerated. Measures of consumer sentiment have been less predictive of how Americans actually shop since the pandemic.
