Consumer sentiment is in the dumps despite a solid economy. Goldman Sachs blames 'lower happiness'

{
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  "signal_type": "news",
  "signal_subtype": "launches",
  "detected_at": "2026-09-19T12:50:49+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "Goldman Sachs",
    "domain": "goldmansachs.com"
  },
  "data": {
    "url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/19/goldman-sachs-happiness-struggling-consumer-sentiment.html",
    "title": "Consumer sentiment is in the dumps despite a solid economy. Goldman Sachs blames 'lower happiness'",
    "excerpt": "Goldman Sachs identified a potential culprit for sour consumer sentiment readings: A decline in happiness. The consumer sentiment index tracked by the University of Michigan hit record lows this year. The index fell 13% year over year in September, due to a drop of almost 8% from August alone. Economists have widely questioned why sentiment has remained depressed since the Covid pandemic, even as the economy hummed along on paper. Goldman economist Joseph Briggs told clients this week that the downward pressure may stem from broader pessimism in society. \"Low reported economic sentiment likely reflects a more fundamental, downbeat assessment of the state of the world rather than the economy,\" Briggs wrote to clients. To be sure, Briggs said inflationary pressures are likely also hurting confidence. But he said \"lower happiness\" at large can partially explain the continued disconnect between sentiment and other measures of the economy's performance, such as gross domestic product growth or stock market performance, that offer rosier views. Briggs pointed to data from the University of Chicago's General Social Survey illustrating how happiness never fully recovered from a drop during the pandemic. The share of respondents feeling \"very happy\" fell to 23% in 2024 from 31% in 2016, survey data shows. The percentage reporting responses of \"not too happy\" rose from 13% to 20% over...",
    "product": "Report on consumer sentiment",
    "summary": "Goldman Sachs published a report identifying a decline in overall happiness and broader societal pessimism, rather than purely economic factors, as a potential cause for persistently low consumer sentiment.",
    "planning": false,
    "image_url": "https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/108335581-1784143828335-gettyimages-2285147627-dsc00382_rlur3yod.jpeg?v=1784143896&w=1920&h=1080",
    "confidence": 0.9,
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      "full_text": "Report on consumer sentiment",
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      "release_type": "report"
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    ],
    "published_at": "2026-09-19T12:50:49Z",
    "article_sentence": "Goldman Sachs identified a potential culprit for sour consumer sentiment readings: A decline in happiness."
  }
}

curl https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/signals/f0cfa23e-57be-31a0-ba0c-8c5572e967d4 \
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curl -X POST https://signals.autobound.ai/v1/companies/enrich \
  -H "X-API-KEY: $AUTOBOUND_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"domain":"goldmansachs.com","limit":20}'