Consumer Confidence Rises Slightly
Consumer confidence bumped up in the past couple of weeks, increasing to 47.5 from 46.4, according to the latest data from the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). Given the consistency of the index, it is unclear whether this increase represents a departure from the ESI’s six-month trend. At the same time, September’s strong jobs month may have helped boost the index. Overall, at 47.5, the index shows a more confident consumer than this time last year, but one who is still hesitant due to weak confidence in the U.S. economy and the labor market.
Consumer confidence in the U.S. economy increased slightly from two weeks ago, up from 39.3 to 39.6. Consumers also indicated increased confidence in making major purchases, up more than a full point to 46.9. Consumers reported feeling less confident in the housing market, down to 53.6 from 54.4 two weeks ago. However, confidence in the housing market has been mostly stable throughout 2014.
The next release of the ESI will be October 21.
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.
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.