WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' economic confidence, which last month reached its highest point in almost 20 years, has been shaken in the midst of the novel coronavirus threat.
The COVID-19 pandemic fueled major stock market losses in recent weeks, and Gallup's Economic Confidence Index fell from +41 in February to +22 in March.U.S.
economic confidence is likely even lower now than what the March 2-13 poll suggests, given that economic evaluations were significantly worse during the second week of interviewing than the first.
But the weekly internal results suggest economic confidence was already declining before the rapid spread of the virus in the U.S.