Home-Heating Bills Put U.S. Consumers in Sour Mood: Economy

American consumers, whose wages are barely growing, became more glum in March as home-heating bills from plunging temperatures came due.

The University of Michigan said Friday its preliminary index of consumer sentiment decreased to 91.2, a four-month low, from 95.4 in February. The reading was less than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists whose median projection was 95.5.