Boomer Blues, Not Gen Z?
November’s consumer confidence data from The Conference Board, released yesterday, continued its downward trend, with both Present Situation and Expectations readings showing another drop.
As shown below, Present Situations has been trending lower throughout the 2020s after trending higher from the end of the Financial Crisis through 2018. The reading for Expectations has taken a similar path, cratering more in November to the bottom end of its 15+ year range.
Consumer confidence readings continue to look remarkably disconnected from economic fundamentals, a pattern that has persisted pretty much since the first Trump Presidency.
While political leanings have a big impact on confidence (Democrats and Independents are currently much more bearish than Republicans), we now also see age-based confidence divergences.
Below is a look at The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence reading broken out by three age bands: under 35, 35 to 54, and 55+.
Counter to the recent narrative that young consumers are struggling, November Consumer Confidence among those under 35 jumped to its highest level since July 2023, while confidence among those 55 and older hit its lowest level since January 2021 and the third-lowest reading in the last ten years. Why are boomers so down on the economy when the under-35 crowd has gotten more optimistic?
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