Well, howdy there, internet people, it's Bell again. So today, we're going to talk about

confidence in Trump's plans dropping. The University of Michigan's Index of Consumer

Sentiment showed that Americans are increasingly nervous about the prospect of Trump's economy

and plans. It fell 11% from February. That's the steepest

decline in decades. The one-year inflation outlook shot up to 4.9%. The five-year is the highest

in decades at 3.9%. The changes in perception occurred across the partisan spectrum. The lead on the survey said,

quote, consumers from all three political affiliations are in agreement that the outlook has weakened

since February. Even among Republicans only, expectations dropped about 10%.

So, why does this matter?

Because the economy cares about your feelings.

Your feelings create the economy.

This indicates worry, which indicates less spending,

which precedes lower economic growth.

Beyond that, something that isn't well known outside of economic circles

is how important estimates are to investors.

There are all kinds of estimates coming out all of the time,

and most are totally ignored by the news,

but investors watch them closely.

What they're really looking for is that the actual survey matches the forecasts and estimates that Wall Street makes in advance.

The reason they pay close attention to the forecast compared to the actual numbers that come out

is because if the forecasts are off, it means the consensus

is missing something about the state of the economy. The Dow Jones estimate for consumer

...