WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer sentiment fell sharply in May to the lowest level in six months as Americans cited stubbornly high inflation and interest rates, as well as fears that unemployment could rise.
The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index, released Friday in a preliminary version, dropped to 67.4 this month from a final reading of 77.2 in April. May's reading is still about 14% higher than a year ago. Consumers' outlook has generally been gloomy since the pandemic and particularly after inflation first spiked in 2021.
Consumer spending is a crucial driver of growth. Sour sentiment about the economy is also weighing on President Joe Biden's reelection bid.
Still, consumer confidence surveys have not always been reliable guides to actual spending, economists note.
“Perceptions don’t always match reality and we think the fundamental backdrop remains strong enough to keep consumers spending,” said Oren Klachkin, an economist at Nationwide Financial, in a research note. “Rising incomes offer a healthy offset and will prevent consumer outlays from retrenching on a sustained basis.”
In the first three months of this year, consumer spending stayed strong even as growth slowed, likely fueled largely by upper-income earners with significant wealth gains in their homes and stock portfolios. The unemployment rate is at a historically low 3.9%, which has forced many companies to offer higher pay to find and keep workers.
Yet big retailers have begun to sense more caution from customers, particularly those with lower incomes, who are pulling back on spending.
Starbucks lowered expectations for its full-year sales and profit in late April after a terrible quarter that saw a slowdown in store visits worldwide. Starbucks reported a sharper and faster decline in spending in the U.S. than it had anticipated.
McDonald’s last month said that it will increase deals and value messaging to combat slowing sales. The Chicago fast food giant said inflation-weary customers are eating out less often in many big markets.
Consumer price increases have been stuck at an elevated level this year, after a sharp drop last year from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3% a year later. In March, prices rose 3.5% compared with a year ago, up from 3.2% in the previous month. Federal Reserve officials have underscored this month that they will likely keep their benchmark interest rate at a 23-year high for as long as needed to get inflation back to their 2% target.
The consumer sentiment survey found that Americans expect inflation will stay higher over the next year at 3.5%. Before the pandemic, consumers typically expected inflation a year ahead would be below 3%.
The drop in overall consumer sentiment occurred across age, income, and education levels, the survey found.
It also crossed political lines, falling among Democrats, Republicans and independents.
FILE - A shopper passes a display of televisions at a Costco warehouse on April 29, 2024, in Lone Tree, Colo. On Friday May 10, 2024, the University of Michigan releases its preliminary reading of consumer sentiment for May. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
You may have heard of white noise used to mask background sounds. Now, it has colorful competition.
There’s a growing buzz around pink noise, brown noise, green noise — a rainbow of soothing sounds — and their theoretical effects on sleep, concentration and the relaxation response.
The science is new with only a few small studies behind it, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people from listening to hours of these noises on YouTube and on meditation apps that provide a palette of color noises with paid subscriptions.
WHAT IS PINK NOISE?
To understand pink noise, start with white, the most familiar of the color noises.
White noise is similar to static on a radio or TV. Sound engineers define it as having equal volume across all the frequencies audible to the human ear. It gets its name from white light, which contains all the visible color wavelengths.
But the high frequencies of white noise can sound harsh. Pink noise turns down the volume on those higher frequencies, so it sounds lower in pitch and more like the natural sound of rain or the ocean.
Brown noise sounds even lower in pitch, giving it a pleasing, soothing rumble.
Pink and brown, like white, have standard definitions to audio experts. Other color noises are more recent creations with very flexible definitions.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND COLOR NOISES?
White noise and pink noise may provide small benefits for people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to a recent review of limited ADHD studies. In theory, it wakes up the brain, said ADHD researcher and co-author Joel Nigg of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
"The noise provides stimulation to the brain without providing information, and so it doesn’t distract,” Nigg said.
White noise has been used to treat ringing or buzzing in the ear, called tinnitus.
Scientists at Northwestern University are studying how short pulses of pink noise can enhance the slow brain waves of deep sleep. In small studies, these pink-noise pulses have shown promise in improving memory and the relaxation response.
Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Dr. Roneil Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
If Northwestern’s research pans out, it could lead to a medical device to improve sleep or memory through personalized pulses of pink noise. But many scientific questions remain unanswered, Malkani said. “There’s still a lot of work we have to do.”
IS THERE ANY HARM IN TRYING COLOR NOISES?
If color noises feel calming and help you drown out distractions, it makes sense to use them. Keep them at a quiet level, of course, to prevent hearing loss and take "plenty of breaks for the ears to rest,” Nigg said.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Dr. Roneil Malkani demonstrates the set up for a sleep study at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
Dr. Roneil Malkani points to a recording of pink noise being played at brief intervals to enhance slow brain waves during deep sleep at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
Dr. Roneil Malkani shows an example of pink noise being used to enhance slow brainwaves during deep sleep at the Center for Circadian & Sleep Medicine at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago on May 16, 2024. Pink noise has a frequency profile “very similar to the distribution of brain wave frequencies we see in slow-wave sleep because these are large, slow waves,” said Malkani, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. (AP Photo/Laura Bargfeld)
