Americans just made a major about-face on the stock market for the first time since Trump's election
- For the first time since the election in 2016, more Americans expect stocks to fall over the next 12 months than rise, according to Conference Board's Consumer Confidence survey in April.
- Stocks peaked in January 2018 after a 22% surge in the prior year.
Americans have turned on the stock market - for now.
More people expect the stock market to fall over the next year than people who predict the opposite, according to the Conference Board's April survey of consumers.
The index that tracks expectations for a decrease frequently zooms past the index that tracks an increase. But this happened in April for the first time since the election in November 2016, when the stock market extended what became known as the Trump rally.
Stocks peaked in January 2018 after a 22% surge in the prior year, the second-best annual gain since the Great Recession. That month, the index of expectations for stocks to continue rising peaked, too.
The good news is that consumers' overall assessment of the economy is still good, and in fact improved in April.
