Consumer Confidence Increased Despite Drop In Labor Market Confidence

Consumer confidence increased slightly over the past two weeks, rising 0.5 points to 53.2 according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). Confidence in the U.S. labor market, however, continued its steady decline from a peak of 51.1 on October 30.

Four out of the ESI’s five indicators increased over the past two weeks. Confidence in personal finances increased the most, rising 1.7 points to 67.6, its highest level since February. Consumer confidence in making a major purchase moved up by 1.3 points to reach 53.8 points, and confidence in the housing market rose by 1.2 points to hit 48.2.

Confidence in finding a new job was the sole indicator to drop, declining by 2.1 points to hit a level of 47.1 points. While the other four indicators increased as Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales hit record highs, the decline in confidence in the U.S. labor market came as U.S. weekly jobless claims hit a 4-month high last week.

The three-day rolling average ended the observation period at a reading of 53.4, 0.7 points off its high of 54.9 points on Tuesday, November 20.

The next release of the ESI will be on Tuesday, December 11, 2018.

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 (HPS) is an analytical public affairs consulting firm with offices in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. We integrate substantive analysis with communications and believe a deep understanding of business and economics leads to more effective public engagement and better outcomes for our clients.

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.