Data: The Conference Board ; Chart: Courtenay Brown/Axios

Consumer confidence soured in early May, according to the Conference Board, though the reading shows a far less bleak economic mood than its peer survey from the University of Michigan, which plumbed new lows Friday.

Why it matters: Directionally, the two surveys send the same signal: Consumers are downgrading their economic views as the war-driven energy shock weighs on household budgets.

But whether consumers feel worse about the economy now than at any other point in the past half-century depends on which survey you reference.

Driving the news: The Conference Board's monthly consumer confidence index fell 0.7 percentage point in May, to 93.1.…