Wall Street Rises Amid AI Optimism While Consumer Sentiment Plummets to Record Lows

U.S. equity markets have continued to rally on optimism about artificial intelligence and strong corporate earnings, even as measures of consumer sentiment have slumped to their weakest readings in roughly seven decades. Reporting links the decline in household morale to persistently high prices, signs of softening in employment and heightened geopolitical tensions.

The divergence between a buoyant stock market and increasingly discouraged consumers has prompted questions among economists and investors about the sustainability of the equity advance if household spending and confidence remain depressed.

Sources reporting on the split include coverage based on the Wall Street Journal and reporting from the Associated Press.