Consumer Confidence Remains In Limbo After Slight Uptick
Consumer confidence edged up slightly to 46.3 over the past two weeks, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The index, which has not fluctuated beyond a two-point range of 45.5 to 47.5 since mid-March, has been remarkably stable, possibly reflecting an economy that has consistently added 200k plus jobs every month during this time period. Yet, it’s worth noting that while confidence is elevated relative to this time last year, 46.3 does not signal robust confidence among America’s consumers.
The two-week rolling average component of the Index saw more movement and, in particular, a sharp upswing at the end of the recorded period.
Across the five components of the ESI, the most notable change was a jump in consumer confidence in personal finances. Confidence in the national economy, in making a major purchase, and in purchasing a new home also rose. The only component of the ESI to fall in the past two weeks was confidence in the labor market. However, this slight drop follows a steady climb in labor market confidence, which is approximately six points above where it was this time last year.
The next release of the ESI will be September 9.
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.