The Trump administration enjoyed some additional, minor relief on the consumer sentiment front Friday, when the preliminary read on the nation’s marquee mood gauge for February beat expectations.

On the heels of a meaningful upward revision in the final update for January, the Michigan headline rose further in the first estimate for this month. 57.3 on the headline was ahead of consensus, which expected a decline.

We’re now looking at a six-month high although, as the figure below reminds you, “high” remains an extremely relative term.

Sentiment remains nearly 20% below where it stood when Trump took office for the second time, and sits uncomfortably close to the Biden-era record lows.

February’s small gain was entirely attributable to the current conditions index. The expectations gauge moved lower to 56.6 which, for context, is more than 20ppt below the long-term average.

“On net, modest increases in current personal finances and buying conditions for durables were offset by a small decline in long-run business conditions,” survey director Joanne Hsu said Friday, adding that although sentiment’s technically the best since August, “recent monthly increases have been small — well under the margin of error.”

Note that the mood disparity between consumers who own a lot of stocks and those who don’t widened out materially in early February.

“Sentiment surged for consumers with the largest stock portfolios, while it stagnated and remained at dismal levels for consumers without stock holdings,” Hsu went on.

So, if you see someone who looks depressed, just ask them if they’ve tried owning assets. If they tell you they can’t afford groceries, let alone real estate and equities, remind them that America’s a meritocracy and that as such, their misfortune’s actually a function of laziness. (I’m being sarcastic, obviously. Don’t do that.)

In addition to the incremental headline sentiment uptick, Friday’s Michigan release contained another silver lining: Year-ahead inflation expectations dropped sharply to 3.5%, the lowest in a year. But even that came with a caveat. “This month’s reading still exceeds those seen in 2024 and remains well above the range seen in the two years pre-pandemic,” Hsu said.