Consumer Confidence Improves Despite Pessimism Around Iran War, Conference Board Says

01:53 PM EDT, 03/31/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in March as views on current conditions improved, outweighing pessimism around the economic fallout from the Iran war, the Conference Board said Tuesday.

The consumer confidence index moved up to 91.8 in March from last month's reading of 91. The consensus was for an 87.9 print in a Bloomberg survey.

The present situation measure climbed 4.6 points to 123.3, while the expectations component slipped 1.7 points to 70.9, the Conference Board said.

"Consumers' write-in responses on factors affecting the economy continued to skew towards pessimism," Dana Peterson, chief economist at the Conference Board, said. "As the war in Iran overlapped significantly with the survey sample period, comments about oil/gas and war/conflict spiked, while specific mentions of trade and tariffs decreased notably."

Consumers' one-year inflation outlook surged to the highest since August, when the Trump's administration's reciprocal tariffs were the main concern, according to the Conference Board.

US gasoline prices surged past $4 per gallon on Tuesday, lifting fuel costs for households and businesses as oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remained largely disrupted.

Consumers are dropping plans to purchase big-ticket items over the next six months, the Conference Board's survey results showed.

The percentage of consumers anticipating higher interest rates over the next 12 months increased to 42% from about 35%, while expectations that stock prices will rise plunged, according to the Conference Board.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Monday that inflation expectations in the US seem to be "well anchored" beyond the short term despite the recent oil price shock, potentially allaying market concerns regarding possible monetary policy tightening.

The University of Michigan said that consumer sentiment reached the lowest since point December in March, while year-ahead inflation expectations saw the largest one-month gain since April.

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