Gallup's U.S. economic confidence index registered negative 2 in March, ending a two-month stretch in positive territory. Before January, the index was on negative ground for seven years.
The index represents an average of two components. One measures Americans' views of current economic conditions and the other whether they believe the economy is getting better or worse. The highest score would be plus 100, and the lowest score minus 100.
The index was positive 1 in February and positive 3 in January.
Party affiliation plays a role in peoples' opinions. The confidence index totaled positive 24 among Democrats in March, negative 3 among independent and negative 28 among Republicans.
"Prior to February's reading, the index had seen six consecutive months of increases in its monthly figure, so the slight declines in each of the past two months clearly indicate a shift in consumers' mindsets," Gallup's Justin McCarthy writes.
"Although Republicans are consistently more negative than Democrats about the economy, changes in the index are generally evident in all three groups. While partisanship is a component of economic confidence, it doesn't explain the recent decline."
It will be interesting to see how confidence was affected by the weak March jobs report released last Friday. Non-farm payrolls increased only 126,000 last month, the smallest increase since December 2013.
The labor participation rate slipped to 62.7 percent, tying a 37-year low. And average hourly wages climbed just 2.1 percent in the 12 months through March, matching the average since the recovery began in June 2009.
On one hand, "there's really no way to sugar coat this. This is a soft print all the way around, no matter how you slice it," Omair Sharif, rates sales strategist at Newedge USA, told
Bloomberg. "It seems that it's corroborating that the U.S. definitely hit a soft patch in the first quarter."
But, on the other hand, "hiring just took a breather in the month of March," he said. "I wouldn't read this as anything other than that. We should get back on track in the second quarter."