Consumers Are Now Worried About an AI Bubble, Michigan Survey Says
Sentiment improved for almost everyone except the households holding the most stock, and a survey that closed days before a brutal selloff may already be out of date. What do those wealthy investors see that others don't?
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Average households have started using a phrase once reserved for professional traders. The University of Michigan released its preliminary November 2026 consumer survey on November 6, 2026. It found comments showing what survey director Joanne Hsu called “growing anxiety over a possible AI bubble.”
The headline Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to 51.0 from 48.0 in October. That 6.3% gain only brought it back to the November 2025 reading of 51.0.
Consumers with the most money in stocks moved the other way. Their sentiment fell 5%, while lower- and middle-wealth households became more upbeat.
That split matters if you own the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), which closed November 6 at $656.10, up 1.4%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) closed at $735.36, up 0.32%. Over the past month, though, QQQ fell 13.41% while SPY fell 5.39%.
Big Stockholders Soured While Everyone Else Improved
Hsu said most of the small increases in expected personal finances and business conditions came from political independents. The current conditions index rose to 51.0 from 46.7, and expectations rose to 50.9 from 48.8.
The AI-bubble finding comes from open-ended comments, and the survey attached no percentage to it, showing the idea has reached average households but not how many people hold it.
The wealthiest stockholders own most of the AI trade, so they feel its losses first, and Hsu linked their fall to a relatively turbulent period in markets. Riding a mania is fine as long as you plan the exit, which is the whole argument of our free bubble survivor’s handbook.
High Prices Still Dominate Household Worries
About 57% of consumers said, without being prompted, that high prices had eroded their living standards. That was up from 46% in February, and sentiment remains 10% below February’s level.
October’s reading was the second-lowest on record, behind only the May 2026 low of 44.8. November’s reading is the highest since August’s 51.7.
Survey Closed Before Thursday’s Selloff
Interviews ran from October 20 to November 2, so they missed the midterm elections and the market’s sharp selloff. On November 5, the S&P 500 fell 4.36%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.52%.
The rebound on Friday was small. The S&P 500 rose 0.31% but still lost 2.68% for the week, and the VIX, a gauge of expected volatility, closed November 5 at 28.18.
Wealthy households account for a large share of spending, and portfolio losses tend to slow it. The final November reading, due November 20, will show whether Thursday’s losses have reached sentiment.
Sticky Inflation Limits Help From Rate Cuts
Year-ahead inflation expectations fell to 4.3% from 4.7%. Long-run expectations slipped to 3.4%, which is still above the 2024 range of 2.8% to 3.2%.
With expectations that high, lower interest rates cannot do much to soften a tech selloff. October CPI, due November 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET, is the next test.
Concentrated AI Holdings Leave QQQ More Exposed Than SPY
QQQ sits about 14% below its 52-week high of $762.86. SPY is about 5.9% below its high, so most of the risk from concentrated AI holdings sits in QQQ.
As of June 30, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) alone made up 7.596756593966% of QQQ. Other chipmakers and the chip-equipment manufacturers added more exposure to the same chip and data center spending.
QQQ carries more concentrated AI risk than SPY. SPY still holds the large AI names. It also holds companies like Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-B) that do not depend on AI spending.
That risk eases if QQQ climbs back above its October 30 level of $690.49 before the November 20 final reading. If that reading instead shows big stockholders became gloomier after a hot CPI report, QQQ likely has further to fall.
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Omor Ibne Ehsan is a writer at 24/7 Wall St. He is a self-taught investor with a focus on growth, cyclical, and dividend equities that have strong fundamentals, value, and long-term potential. He also has an interest in high-risk, high-reward investments such as penny stocks.
