By Matt Grossman
Economic sentiment held steady in March, defying expectations that the Iran war would dim consumers' mood, a survey from research group The Conference Board suggested.
The Conference Board's sentiment index rose to 91.8, from 91 in February. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal were anticipating a March decline to 87.5
The result is at odds with a similar monthly survey, fielded by the University of Michigan, which showed an appreciable March decline in results published last week.
In comments received from respondents, cost-of-living issues dominated households' concerns, and many mentioned frustration with rising energy prices, said Dana Peterson, the Conference Board's chief economist.
In recent data that predate the war, the economy's fundamentals have remained solid, with moderate unemployment, slightly elevated inflation and modest economic growth to end last year. But the Middle East conflict that began a month ago has left consumers confronting a shock to the oil market that could raise prices and stretch budgets.
Stockholders also have been suffering. Through Monday, the broad S&P 500 index lost 7.8% in March, erasing all its gains since last August.
Views of the labor market in The Conference Board's survey mostly held steady. A metric called the labor-market differential, which shows the difference between the share of respondents who think jobs are "plentiful" and those who think they are "hard to get," ticked up to 5.8 percentage points, from 5.7 in February. A greater number means consumers' mood improved.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-31-26 1032ET
