{"id":695060,"date":"2026-03-31T15:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/695060\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T15:05:18","slug":"consumer-confidence-inches-up-despite-soaring-gas-prices-due-to-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/695060\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer confidence inches up despite soaring gas prices due to Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 U.S. consumer confidence inched higher in March despite\u00a0soaring energy prices<\/a>\u00a0brought on by the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose modestly to 91.8 in March from 91 in February.<\/p>\n

The board said that while rising costs due to tariffs and spiking oil prices induced by the conflict in the Middle East did not affect the topline confidence reading, there was increasing pessimism in other measures of the survey, including expectations of higher inflation.<\/p>\n

Respondents\u2019 comments about oil, gas and the war spiked and consumers\u2019 12-month inflation expectations surged to levels last seen in August 2025 when anxiety over tariffs peaked.<\/p>\n

U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday as the war caused fuel prices to soar worldwide.<\/p>\n

According to motor club AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is now $4.02 \u2014 up more than a dollar before the war began. The last time\u00a0U.S. drivers<\/a>\u00a0were collectively paying this much at the pump was nearly four years ago, following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

A measure of Americans\u2019 short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell 1.7 points to 70.9, remaining well below 80, a marker that can signal a recession ahead. It\u2019s the 14th consecutive month that reading has come in under 80.<\/p>\n

The index for consumers\u2019 assessments of their current economic situation rose by 4.6 points to 123.3.<\/p>\n

Government data from earlier in March showed that an inflation gauge closely monitored by the Federal Reserve moved 2.8% higher in January in the latest sign that prices were\u00a0persistently elevated<\/a>\u00a0even before the Iran war caused\u00a0spikes in oil and gas costs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories \u2014 which the Fed pays closer attention to \u2014 core prices rose 3.1%, up from 3% in the prior month and the highest in nearly two years.<\/p>\n

Consumer prices<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0prices at the wholesale level<\/a>\u00a0also remain elevated.<\/p>\n

Those higher prices and the prospect of even higher inflation due to the Iran war makes it unlikely that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates any time soon.<\/p>\n

The Fed cut its benchmark interest rate three times to close 2025 in an attempt to support a flagging labor market. However, because lower rates can exacerbate inflation, which remains above the Fed\u2019s 2% target, the Fed has left its overnight lending rate alone at its past two meetings.<\/p>\n

While consumers\u2019 views of current employment conditions improved slightly, perceptions of the labor market six months from now edged downward.<\/p>\n

The Labor Department reported earlier in March that U.S. employers unexpectedly cut 92,000 jobs in February, a sign that the labor market remains\u00a0under strain<\/a>. Economists had expected 60,000 new jobs in February. The unemployment rate rose to 4.4%.<\/p>\n

Another report Tuesday showed that U.S. job openings\u00a0fell slightly<\/a>\u00a0in February to 6.9 million from 7.2 million in January.<\/p>\n

The surprisingly weak employment picture in February adds to the economic uncertainty sparked by the\u00a0war with Iran<\/a>, which has caused oil prices to surge and saddled business and consumers with unforeseen costs.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s labor market has been stuck in a \u201clow hire, low fire\u201d state, economists say, as businesses stand pat due to uncertainty over President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and the lingering effects of elevated interest rates.<\/p>\n

U.S.\u00a0economic growth slowed<\/a>\u00a0to 1.4% in the final three months of last year, following two surprisingly strong quarters. Growth in the fourth quarter was dragged down by the six-week shutdown of the federal government and a pullback in consumer spending.<\/p>\n

According to the Tuesday\u2019s survey results, consumers\u2019 plans to buy cars continued to rise in March, with used cars remaining the clear preference.<\/p>\n

Homebuying expectations fell in March as the spring buying season kicks off in the midst of a\u00a0yearslong housing market slump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Expectations that\u00a0stock prices<\/a>\u00a0will be higher a year from now plunged, the board said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MATT OTT, AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 U.S. consumer confidence inched higher in March despite\u00a0soaring energy…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":695061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,53017,79,9967,6087,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-695060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-consumer-confidence","tag-economy","tag-gas-prices","tag-iran-war","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116324409811050233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=695060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/695060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/695061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=695060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=695060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=695060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}