Consumer Confidence Continues Post-Election Surge In Advance Of The Holidays
Consumer confidence increased for the fourth straight reading to reach 52.4, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). Since its last decline on October 18, 2016, consumer confidence has increased a total of 5.7 points, reaching its highest level since January 27, 2015. With the help of steady increases, the ESI’s 2016 average is now 47.4, up from 46.9 on October 18.
Four of the five indicators increased during the reading, with confidence in making a major purchase increasing most significantly by 2.5 points to 49.9. Confidence in the broader US economy also rose, reaching a 12-month high of 54.2. Consumer confidence toward the labor market and the housing market increased by 1.6 points and 0.5 points, respectively. Confidence in personal finances was the sole indicator to decline, falling 0.7 points to 61.2, but maintaining its spot as the top indicator.
The three-day rolling average reached its peak 54.7 during the first half of the period on Sunday, December 4. Overall, the rolling average declined during the second week of the period, falling 0.8 points from its starting point of 51.4 on Wednesday, November 30 to 50.6 on Tuesday, December 13 — only slightly above its two-week trough of 50.0 on Sunday, December 11.
The next release of the ESI will be December 27.
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.
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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.