Consumer Confidence Jumps During Amazon Prime Day

Consumer confidence improved slightly over the past two weeks, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The index moved up 0.3 points, rising from a reading of 52.6 on July 10 to 52.9 on July 24. This marks the fourth reading period in a row that the ESI has reversed course.

The recovery in economic sentiment was driven by a 1.1 point increase in consumer confidence in making a major purchase, the largest change by any subcategory during the reading period.

Four of the ESI’s five indicators increased during the reading period. As previously stated, confidence in making a major purchase experienced the largest change of any indicator during the reading period, up from 53.0 to 54.1. Consumer sentiment towards the U.S. labor market also jumped by 0.9 points to 49.2, while confidence in both personal finances and the housing market rose by 0.4 and 0.2 points, respectively.

Consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy was the only indicator to fall, dropping 1.1 points to 47.9.

Noteworthy, the two-week period included Amazon’s Prime Day, which spanned July 16 and July 17. During the two-week period, consumer confidence in making a major purchase increased by 1.1 points, hitting its highest level since March. Moreover, the three-day rolling average shows consumer confidence rising sharply during Prime Day to 55.1.

The next release of the ESI will be August 7, 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.