Inflation Expectations Hit 6.1% as Confidence Sinks to a 2014 Low

The one number a household cannot look away from showed up Tuesday in the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index: 81.9, down 6.7 points, the lowest reading since April 2014. Behind the headline index sits a write-in field the Board actually reads, and chief economist Dana Peterson reported that references to prices, the high cost of goods and services, and oil and gas prices in particular "rose to new heights." This is the cost-of-living story of the week: the squeeze has moved from the statistic to the sentiment, and sentiment is now doing the forecasting.

Key Takeaways The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index fell 6.7 points to 81.9 in September 2026, the lowest reading since Ap…