Understanding the Disconnect Between Consumers and the Stock Market
Consumer sentiment indices are relatively accurate indicators for the outlook of an economy. They rise during periods of growth as consumers become more financially confident, and fall during recessions as consumers cut back on discretionary spending.
Since the direction of the overall economy also affects stock markets, measures of consumer sentiment have historically moved in tandem with major indices like the S&P 500. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, however, consumers and stock markets have become noticeably disjointed from one another.
This infographic charts the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment against the S&P 500, before diving into potential underlying factors for their divergence.
First published: July 29, 2020 (link)
Source files included: .ai, .eps, .pdf
Data source: Peter G. Peterson Foundation
A full license grants you the permission to download and modify our visualization, and to re-publish it in most professional and personal use cases.
Licenses also give you permission to translate our visualizations into another language, provided that you also remove the Visual Capitalist branding.
| Type of License | Full License (1 Credit) |
|---|
