Consumer Confidence Jumps To A 2014 High

Consumer confidence jumped to a nine-month high of 46.7 over the past two weeks, according to the latest release of the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). This spike in the ESI’s two-week average followed two consecutive increases, fully reversing the declines seen over January and February of this year.

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During the two week period, the three-day rolling average peaked at a 2014 high of 48.1 and ended at 46.5.

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Improved confidence in the housing market boosted the ESI over the past two weeks. However, consumers’ outlook on their personal financial situation and confidence in the labor market were the real drivers behind the jump in the ESI. Consumers’ confidence in their personal financial situation improved to a nine-month high of 57.3. This level is well above the 12-month average of 54.4. Similarly, labor market confidence rose to 35.9, which is just below its level at the end of 2013.

 

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Below are all five questions included in the index:

  • Over the next six months, do you expect your personal financial situation to get better, stay the same, or get worse?
  • Given the current state of your local market, is now a good or bad time to purchase a new home?
  • Given the current state of the economy, is now a good time or a bad time to make a major purchase like a new car or home improvements?
  • Looking ahead six months, do you think the U.S. economy will get better, stay the same, or get worse?
  • Over the next six months, do you think it will become easier or more difficult to find a new job?

The next release of the ESI will be Tuesday, April 8th.

About the Index

The HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (“ESI”) 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.

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.

About CivicScience

CivicScience is a next-generation polling and data mining company. The company partners with hundreds of premier websites to survey millions of people every week. Proprietary technology then rapidly analyzes consumer opinion, discovers trends in real-time, and accurately predicts market outcomes. CivicScience is used by leading enterprises in an array of industries including marketing research, advertising, digital media, financial services, and political polling.