340

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices hover near record levels.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains. The measure hasn’t fallen as much this year as other gauges of consumer attitudes, but it has been stuck at a low level since the pandemic. Before COVID-19, it regularly reached 130.

A separate gauge of consumer sentiment released last week by the University of Michigan fell to a record low this month. Soaring gas and food costs have worsened inflation that is outpacing the average growth in paychecks, reducing most Americans’ purchasing power. Americans have soured on President Trump’s economic policies, polls show, potentially creating problems for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.

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[-] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

All the money that's accumulating in the hands of the ultra rich has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is investment assets and investment assets are chosen based on going up in price and said going up in price needs not be for any reason other than that money is going into those assets in the expectation that the prices will go up (i.e. it's just a feedback loop of price increases attracting more buyers which in turn makes prices go up).

It's one big Ponzi Scheme and it will keep on going until there is no more money entering the scheme.

As it so happens we're living a long period of the wealth that was accumulated across society for decades being sucked out from the hands of the many into the hands of the few, and said few then keep putting more money into investment assets (what would be the point of buying yet another yacht) which is what keeps the whole price goes up because people buy -> people buy because price goes up loop going in so many asset categories, from housing and stocks to ultra speculative stuff like crypto.

This shit will only stop when it crashes and the longer it keeps going the harder it will crash.

[-] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 7 hours ago

Tbf a lot of it is ordinary people with their 401ks or ETF purchases. Like a very big percentage. That creates the baseline demand, which means the line is always going up when things are good.

Then the ultra rich and the gamblers make bets on which companies beat that constantly rising line.

this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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