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. But it ticked down to a level that is still above where it stood as recently as January. A modest jump in future expectations nearly offset a pullback in how Americans view current conditions.…