Updated: 24-Feb-26 10:20 ET

February Consumer Confidence

Updated: 24-Feb-26 10:20 ET

Highlights

• The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index increased to 91.2 in February (Briefing.com consensus: 86.0) from an upwardly revised 89.0 (from 84.5) in January.
• In the same period a year ago, the index stood at 100.1.

Key Factors

• The Present Situation Index dropped to 120.0 from 121.8.
• The Expectations Index rose to 72.0 from 67.2; however, that was the thirteenth straight reading below 80, which is a level that typically signals recession ahead.
• 12-month inflation expectations dipped to 5.5% from 5.6% in January.

Big Picture

• The key takeaway from the report is that the month-over-month improvement was driven by increased expectations, with all three components of the index-income, business, and labor market conditions-advancing from January.

Category	FEB	JAN	DEC	NOV	OCT
Conference Board	91.2	89.0	94.2	92.9	95.5
Expectations	72.0	67.2	74.6	70.7	71.8
Present Situation	120.0	121.8	123.6	126.3	131.2
Employment ('plentiful' less 'hard to get')	7.4	6.8	8.4	8.1	10.3
1 yr inflation expectations	5.5%	5.6%	5.4%	5.8%	5.7%