Nigeria, March 17 -- This report is from today's TNC's Daily Open, our international markets update. TNC Daily Open keeps investors informed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are.

According to a University of Michigan survey, U.S. consumers are more pessimistic about the economy than they have been since November 2022. At that time, annual inflation was 7.1%, and Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, admitted that there was less prospect of a "soft landing," in which inflation is controlled without the economy entering a recession.

It appeared that the Fed would safely guide the economy down the landing strip, as evidenced by the 2.9% U.S. inflation rate in December and the 2.3% annualized growth in the gr...