US Consumer Confidence Falls to 12-Year Low
Left 67%
Center 0%
Right 33%
2 left · 0 center · 1 right
What happened
In September, the Conference Board reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 81.9, down 6.7 points from August and the lowest reading since 2014. The Present Situation Index dropped 7.9 points to 109.3, and the Expectations Index fell 5.9 points to 63.6. The gap between respondents saying jobs are plentiful versus hard to get narrowed by 2.5 percentage points to 1.7 percent, and average one-year inflation expectations rose 0.3 percentage points to 6.1 percent. Conference Board chief economist Dana Peterson said appraisals of current business conditions turned negative for the first time since September 2024. Separately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said U.S. job openings in August fell by 256,000 to 7.08 million.
Sourcing check · Partly on the record · 3 articles
1 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
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- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: The Conference Board and Dana M. Peterson
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- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 29, 20:08 UTC by The Hill, naming its source. First document in the first report, from The Hill (official statistics).
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This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
ONE-SIDED THIS WEEK.
Only left-leaning outlets have covered this story in the last two days;
Daily Caller reported it on 2026-09-25.
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Right-leaning outlets had not covered the September drop as of publication. Left-leaning coverage reports that consumer confidence fell to its lowest level since 2014. CNBC put the Conference Board reading at 81.9. Bloomberg linked that decline to rising gasoline and oil prices. CNBC also said this was the first time more respondents called their personal finances "bad as opposed to good". The same report said write-in mentions of oil and gas prices rose to new heights. A reader following only the silent side would miss the index level, the miss versus forecasts, and those finance and fuel complaints.
Left-leaning coverage does not lead with the same cause. Bloomberg opened on gasoline. CNBC opened on an "inflation-weary public" and a weaker jobs outlook.
How large a share of September write-ins named oil and gas prices rather than jobs?
Bottom line
Right-leaning readers have no number at all for September, including CNBC's print of 81.9 that undershot forecasts and matched a low last seen in 2014.
The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
- The index declined 6.7 points from August
- The reading was well below the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 89
- The jobs plentiful versus hard-to-get differential fell to 1.7%
- Respondents on average expect an inflation rate of 6.1%
- Appraisals of current business conditions became negative for the first time since September 2024
The Left View
Bloomberg, CNBC, and The Hill reported the Conference Board index at 81.9 as a more-than-decade low, emphasizing rising gasoline and oil prices, inflation, and a weaker jobs outlook. CNBC said the figure missed a Dow Jones consensus of 89; that for the first time in four years of a survey question, more respondents called personal finances bad rather than good; and that write-in comments on prices, the cost of goods and services, and fuel costs reached new heights. Those outlets also cited University of Michigan sentiment falling 7 percent in September to its second-lowest reading on record, higher inflation expectations amid uncertainty over the Iran war, and the August drop in job openings versus a 7.2 million Wall Street forecast.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on named survey publishers, specific index levels and point changes, a named Conference Board economist, and a separate BLS job-openings print. Established facts are the September Conference Board readings (81.9 overall; 109.3 present situation; 63.6 expectations), the labor differential and inflation-expectation figures as reported, Peterson’s quoted characterization of the survey, the Michigan comparison as cited, and August openings at 7.08 million. Claims that the drop was caused by gas prices, an Iran war, or a deteriorating labor market are interpretations of write-ins and related data, not independently proven causation. No right-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch for the full Conference Board tables, the next Conference Board and University of Michigan prints, BLS revisions, and any Federal Reserve or administration response to the inflation and labor figures.
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