US Consumer Confidence: 2026 Schedule, Dates and What to Expect

The US Consumer Confidence Index is a monthly survey of how American households feel about the economy, their jobs and their income prospects. It is published by The Conference Board, a non-profit research organisation, at 10:00 am ET (3:00 pm London) on the last Tuesday of most months. The next release is Tuesday, August 25, 2026, covering the August survey period. Every date in the table below can be added to your own diary using the ICS and Google Calendar feed on this page, so each release lands in your calendar with the correct time zone applied automatically.

The index matters because consumer spending drives roughly two thirds of US economic output. When confidence weakens, households tend to delay big purchases such as cars, appliances and holidays, which feeds through to company earnings, hiring and eventually to interest rate expectations. It is released ahead of the hard spending data, which is why traders in New York, London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong watch it as an early warning signal. Related releases: US CPI Report, US Jobs Report and US PCE Report.

2026 and 2027 schedule

The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index at 10:00 am in New York on the last Tuesday of the month, with occasional shifts when the calendar falls awkwardly. Times below are shown in the local New York zone (EDT in summer, EST in winter), which is 3:00 pm in London during both periods because the UK and the US shift their clocks on different dates in late March, October and November. Check the London equivalent in those transition weeks.

What is US Consumer Confidence?

The Consumer Confidence Index is a single number that summarises how optimistic or pessimistic US households are. It is set to a base of 100 for the year 1985, so a reading of 90 means confidence is about 10 per cent below that long-run reference point rather than 90 per cent of anything. The index has no upper or lower limit and it is not a percentage, which is why analysts talk about moves in “points” rather than percentage changes.

The headline figure is built from two sub-indices that are often more informative than the headline itself. The Present Situation Index measures how consumers rate business conditions and the jobs market right now. The Expectations Index measures what they expect over the next six months for income, business conditions and employment. The Conference Board has noted in the past that an Expectations Index below 80 has historically been associated with a recession ahead, although that threshold has been breached for long stretches since the pandemic without a downturn following, so it should be treated as a rule of thumb and not a signal.

In the most recent published report, for July 2026, the headline index fell 1.4 points to 90.8 from an upwardly revised 92.2 in June, according to The Conference Board. The Present Situation Index dropped 3.6 points to 114.9, its third consecutive monthly decline, while the Expectations Index was little changed at 74.7 and stayed below that 80 marker. The Conference Board’s chief economist, Dana M. Peterson, said confidence “moderated slightly in July”, continuing a downward-sloping trajectory in place since late 2021.

The survey also collects detail that rarely makes headlines but is widely used by economists: buying intentions for cars, homes and major appliances, holiday plans, and consumers’ own expectations for inflation, share prices and interest rates. The share of respondents saying jobs are “hard to get” is treated as an informal read on labour market slack and is often compared with the official unemployment rate.

How is it calculated?

The Consumer Confidence Survey is a monthly household survey covering the whole United States, based on a sample of roughly 3,000 households. Respondents answer five core questions, two on current conditions (general business conditions and the availability of jobs) and three on expectations for the next six months (business conditions, employment and household income). For each question, respondents choose a positive, negative or neutral answer.

The Conference Board converts these answers into “relative values”, the share of positive replies divided by the sum of positive and negative replies, then indexes each relative value against its 1985 average. The headline index is the average of all five indexed questions. The Present Situation Index averages the two current-conditions questions and the Expectations Index averages the three forward-looking ones. Because three of the five questions are forward-looking, the survey is generally described as a leading indicator.

Two features matter for anyone reading the number. First, each release names its survey cut-off date, usually around the 22nd or 23rd of the month, so events after that date are not captured. The July 2026 survey ran from July 1 to 22 and the Conference Board flagged that mentions of war and geopolitics had eased within that window. Second, the figure is preliminary and revised the following month as late responses arrive, and those revisions can be large. June 2026 was first reported at 91.2 and later revised up to 92.2, while May’s initial 93.1 was revised down in one intervening estimate. Always compare this month’s headline with the revised prior month, not the number you remember from four weeks ago.

The Conference Board series should not be confused with the University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment, a separate survey with a different question set and a heavier weighting towards inflation and petrol prices. The two often diverge for months at a time.

What time is it released and where?

The Consumer Confidence Index is published at 10:00 am Eastern Time, which is 3:00 pm in London, 4:00 pm in Frankfurt and Paris, 10:00 pm in Hong Kong and Singapore and 11:00 pm in Tokyo. During US summer time the New York clock is EDT (UTC-4) and in winter it is EST (UTC-5). The release lands about 30 minutes after the New York cash equity open, so the market reaction is visible immediately in stocks, Treasury yields and the dollar rather than in futures alone.

The report is published on The Conference Board’s consumer confidence page at conference-board.org, together with a press release, the headline and sub-indices, and breakdowns by age, income, nine census regions and the eight largest states. There is no lock-up or pre-release embargo distribution of the kind used for some government statistics, so news wires publish within seconds of 10:00 am. Full historical data and the detailed tables are available to Conference Board members and subscribers.

For readers in Asia the release arrives late in the evening, which is why the follow-through is often seen the next morning in Tokyo and Sydney trading rather than at the moment of publication.

Historical data

The table below shows recent published readings for the headline index. Figures are as first reported, with the base year 1985 equal to 100. Revisions in the following month mean the comparison figure quoted in a later release may differ.

Source: The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey, with monthly detail as reported by The Conference Board and secondary summaries of each release. For context, readings were well above 100 in late 2024 and early 2025, so the 2026 range in the low 90s sits materially below that period and well below pre-pandemic averages.

How do markets react?

Consumer confidence is a medium-impact release. It rarely moves markets on the scale of the monthly jobs report or CPI, partly because it is a survey of opinions rather than a measure of actual spending, and partly because the University of Michigan preliminary sentiment reading has usually appeared earlier in the month. Even so, a surprise of five points or more against the consensus reliably produces a reaction.

The mechanics are straightforward. A stronger than expected reading suggests households will keep spending, which supports company revenues and tends to lift US equity indices and the dollar, while pushing Treasury yields higher as traders trim the odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts. A weaker reading works the other way: cyclical and consumer discretionary shares fall, short-dated Treasury yields drop and rate-cut expectations priced in tools such as the CME FedWatch tool tend to rise. Because the release lands 30 minutes into the New York session, the initial move is often visible in the S&P 500 and in the 2-year Treasury yield within the first minute.

Two details frequently matter more than the headline. The labour market questions, in particular the share saying jobs are “hard to get”, are read alongside the official unemployment data and can shift the rates outlook on their own. In the June 2026 report that share rose to 22.5 per cent, the highest since January 2021, which analysts flagged as a sign of cooling employment. The consumer inflation expectations series in the survey also draws attention when petrol or grocery prices are moving quickly, since central bankers care about whether households expect price rises to persist.

Outside the United States the read-across is indirect but real. US household demand supports European and Asian exporters, so a sharp confidence drop typically weighs on German industrial shares, on Japanese and Korean exporters and on commodity-linked currencies. Shifts in US rate expectations also move the dollar against the pound and the euro, which feeds into UK and euro area import prices.

What It Means for Your Money

Consumer confidence does not change anything you pay directly. It changes the odds that other things move, and those odds are what filter through to household finances.

• Mortgages and loans. If confidence weakens repeatedly, markets bring forward expected Federal Reserve rate cuts. That usually lowers longer-term bond yields, and US fixed mortgage rates track those yields closely. Because global bond markets move together, UK gilt yields and swap rates, which drive fixed-rate mortgage pricing in Britain, often shift in the same direction.
• Savings rates. Expectations of lower central bank rates tend to pull fixed-term savings and bond rates down first. Persistently strong confidence does the reverse and can keep deposit rates higher for longer.
• Jobs. The survey’s employment questions are an early read on hiring. Rising numbers saying jobs are “hard to get” often precede slower recruitment, which matters if you are job hunting or negotiating pay.
• Prices. The survey’s inflation expectations component signals whether households are braced for further price rises. Entrenched expectations make central banks more cautious about cutting rates.
• Pensions and investments. Consumer-facing companies, retailers, carmakers, airlines and hospitality groups, are the most sensitive to this data. Global equity funds held in pensions and ISAs have heavy US weightings, so a broad confidence downturn can show up in valuations even for investors outside the US.
• Currencies. A weak reading typically softens the dollar and lifts the pound and the euro against it. That makes US holidays cheaper for British and European travellers, and reduces the sterling value of unhedged dollar assets.

For most people the sensible response is none at all. A single survey point is noise; a run of three or four months in the same direction is the signal worth acting on when reviewing a mortgage renewal date or a savings ladder.

Related economic events

• US CPI Report: the monthly inflation reading that sets the tone for Federal Reserve rate expectations.
• US Jobs Report: non-farm payrolls and the unemployment rate, the hard data behind the survey’s labour market questions.
• US PCE Report: the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, released with personal income and consumer spending.
• US GDP Report: the quarterly output figure in which consumer spending is the largest single component.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the next US Consumer Confidence release?

The next release is Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 10:00 am ET (3:00 pm London), covering the August survey period. The following release is scheduled for September 29, 2026.

What time is US Consumer Confidence released?

Always 10:00 am Eastern Time, which is 3:00 pm in London, 4:00 pm in Frankfurt and 11:00 pm in Tokyo. That is 30 minutes after the New York equity market opens.

How often is it published?

Monthly, normally on the last Tuesday of the month, giving 12 releases a year. Each report is preliminary and is revised the following month as late survey responses are counted.

Where can I find the official release?

On The Conference Board website at conference-board.org, on its consumer confidence topic page, where the press release, headline index and the Present Situation and Expectations sub-indices are published at 10:00 am ET.

Does consumer confidence affect interest rates?

Not directly. The Federal Reserve does not target it, but a sustained decline signals weaker household demand and can strengthen the case for rate cuts, while strong readings support the case for holding rates higher for longer.

What is the consensus forecast for August 2026?

A consensus forecast for the August 2026 report has not yet been published. Estimates from economists surveyed by Reuters and Bloomberg typically appear in the week before the release.