By Robert Hughes
The preliminary August results from the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers show overall consumer sentiment was roughly unchanged in early August and remains well below pre-lockdown levels. A lack of confidence in government policies was a key theme driving the weak results.
Overall consumer sentiment increased slightly to 72.8 in early August, up from 72.5 in July, a 0.4 percent rise (see chart). From a year ago, the index is still down 18.9 percent. The sub-indexes posted opposing changes in early August. The current-economic-conditions index fell to 82.5 from 82.8 in