Consumer Confidence Rises For The First Time In 2016
Consumer confidence rose slightly over the past two weeks from 46.8 to 47.3, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The increase is the first time the ESI has risen in 2016, but consumer confidence is still approximately four points below where it was at this time last year. All five components of the ESI rose over the past two weeks, so the small increase was not driven by any particular component.
Consumer confidence in making a major purchase and the labor market contributed the most to the ESI’s increase. Confidence in the labor market rose by more than a full point, from 36 to 37.3. Confidence in making a major purchase was not far behind, increasing to 48.2 from 47.4. Consumer confidence in the national economy, personal finances, and the housing market all rose slightly.
The three day moving average was relatively stable, with the exception of a brief spike at the end of last week.
The next release of the ESI will be February 23.
About the Index
The HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (“ESI”) is a “living” index that measures U.S. adults’ expectations for the economy going forward, as well as their feelings about current conditions for major purchases. The primary goal of the Index is to accurately measure movements in overall national economic sentiment, and to provide a more sophisticated alternative to existing economic sentiment indices. Unlike other prominent indices that release consumer sentiment estimates infrequently, the HPS-CivicScience Index is updated in real time as responses are collected continuously every hour, every day. Large-scale cross-tabulation of survey responses and consumer attributes enable more granular analyses than are currently possible through prevailing measures.
For a more detailed overview of the Index and the underlying methodology, please request a white paper.
About Hamilton Place Strategies (HPS)
Hamilton Place Strategies is a policy, advocacy, and communications consulting firm with a focus and expertise at the intersection of government, business, and media.
For more information, visit Hamilton Place Strategies by clicking here and follow them on Twitter – @HPSInsight.
About CivicScience
CivicScience, Inc. provides the leading intelligent polling and real-time consumer insights platform, the InsightStore™. Its proprietary platform powers the world’s opinions and quickly gets that data to the decision makers who care. Every day, CivicScience polls ask millions of people questions related to thousands of topics, while its powerful data science and big data technology analyzes current consumer opinions, discovers trends as they start, and accurately predicts future behaviors and market outcomes. CivicScience polls run on hundreds of premier websites, in addition to its own public polling site at www.civicscience.com. CivicScience’s InsightStore™ is used by leading enterprises in marketing research, advertising, media, financial services, and political polling. For more information, visit CivicScience by clicking here and follow them on Twitter – @CivicScience.