Consumer Confidence Holds Steady Heading Into March

Consumer confidence ticked up slightly over the past two weeks, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). Following December’s precipitous drop and the ESI’s modest recovery throughout 2019 so far, during the latest reading consumer confidence increased by a mere 0.1 points to 51.5.

Three out of the ESI’s five indicators increased during the reading. The largest increase was consumer confidence in making a major purchase, which rose by 1.3 points to a reading of 53.2. Consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy increased from 46.9 to 47.4 points. Economic sentiment toward the housing market also rose slightly, moving up by 0.3 points. Confidence in the labor market and personal finances both fell, dropping by 0.8 points and 0.5 points, respectively.

The steadiness of the ESI came as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell noted in a recent testimony on Capitol Hill that the economy is “in a good place” and that potential risks to growth have led the Fed to remain patient in its approach to deciding when to raise interest rates

The three-day rolling average ended the reading period on the upswing, beginning with a reading of 51.7 on February 20 and dropping to a low of 48.8 on March 2 before reaching its peak of 54.4 on March 5.

The next release of the ESI will be on Tuesday, March 19, 2019.

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.ts 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.