The way Utah’s consumers feel about their economic situation stayed relatively the same from March to April, according to the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute’s Survey of Utah Consumer Sentiment. The monthly index rose only slightly — 70.2 to 70.5 — for the month, signaling more uncertainty about the future.
“The index was relatively unchanged for the second straight month, reflecting continued uncertainty among Utahns about the economy as they face mixed economic signals,” said Gardner Institute chief economist Phil Dean. “Negative economic signals include moderating economic growth in the U.S., higher interest rates and the ongoing banking crisis that began with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March. Positive economic signals Utahns may notice include a strong local labor market and improvements to inflation.”
A similar poll, the University of Michigan’s Monthly Survey of Consumers, found sentiment rose slightly from March (62.0) to April (63.5) among Americans as a whole.
The Gardner poll uses key questions from the University of Michigan’s survey. Those questions measure residents’ views of the present economic situation and their expectations for the economy in the future. Data gathered from the key questions are used to create the consumer confidence index for Utah. Demographic questions are included in the questionnaire to allow for additional analysis of the data and to assess the representativeness of the sample. The full results of the survey are available online at the Gardner Institute website, https://gardner.utah.edu.