WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined slightly this month as gas prices stayed high and inflation remained elevated, a sharp contrast to soaring stock prices hover near record levels.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index slipped 0.7 points to 93.1 in May, the first decline after three months of gains. The measure hasn’t fallen as much this year as other gauges of consumer attitudes, but it has been stuck at a low level since the pandemic. Before COVID-19, it regularly reached 130.
A separate gauge of consumer sentiment released last week by the University of Michigan fell to a record low this month. Soaring gas and food costs have worsened inflation that is outpacing the average growth in paychecks, reducing most Americans’ purchasing power. Americans have soured on President Trump’s economic policies, polls show, potentially creating problems for Republicans heading into the midterm elections.
Well, index funds are also the only way for the average person’s portfolio to appreciate faster than inflation. Remember that even most professional traders underperform compared to S&P500 in the long term.
Now if the funds you experienced were actively trading rather than just buying Index ETFs, that’s definitely a scam.
Before I turned mine here in Estonia from a composite index fund into a trading account, it held US, european and world stock ETFs. Now I’m holding european, Asian emerging markets, China ETFs and some individual Estonian stocks that reliably pay dividends. I ain’t keeping my shit in the US with Trump in charge.
NASDAQ 100 just got changed to completely fleece everyone who holds it next month though. Interest Free Loan With No Repayment Obligation To Elon Musk, inc is going straight into the index when it IPOs lmao. As will ClosedAI and Anthropic when they IPO.