U.S. economic confidence falls in April, but still positive
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Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index averaged +5 in April, down four points from March's average.
Despite the dip, confidence has been in positive territory for six consecutive months - the longest such streak in the past nine years.
Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they feel the economy is improving or getting worse.
The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 if all Americans were to say the economy is doing well and improving, and a theoretical minimum of -100 if all were to say the economy is doing poorly and getting worse.
In April, 32% of Americans rated economic conditions in the country as "excellent" or "good," while 21% rated conditions as "poor." This left the current conditions component of the index at +11 for the month, down slightly from March's +13.
Meanwhile, 46% of Americans said the economy was "getting better" in April, while 47% said it was "getting worse." Because of this, the economic outlook component fell to -1 from +4 in March. ■