Consumer Confidences Completes Rebound Hitting New 2017 High
After a brief dip, consumer confidence has risen for three consecutive readings and now stands at a 2017 high of 52.9, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The ESI’s previous high for 2017 was 52.8, which it reached on Tuesday, January 24. While in 2016, consumer confidence only rose above 50.0 three times, the ESI has yet to fall below 50.0 in 2017. This reading’s increase helped push the ESI’s 2017 average up to 51.8. Economic sentiment for four of the ESI’s five economic indicators also improved, helping to spur the overall index’s rise.
Consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy and making a major purchase both increased by more than two points to 51.9 and 50.0, respectively. Consumers continue to have more confidence in the broader U.S. economy in 2017 than in 2016. The indicator’s average for 2017 is currently 48.7, 7.6 points higher than 2016 average of 41.1. Economic sentiment toward the housing market and labor market also improved, rising 1.8 points to 50.8 and 1.6 points to 46.6, respectively. The only indicator to fall during the reading was consumer confidence in personal finances, which declined by 0.8 points to 65.3. Despite the fall, consumers remain the most confident in personal finances in comparison to the other four indicators.
During the two-week reading period, the ESI’s three-day rolling average peaked on Thursday, March 16 at 53.7. The average then fell 2.1 points in the three days following to reach its trough of 51.6 on Sunday, March 19. Before the end of the reading period, the ESI’s average increased 1.4 points to end the period exactly at its starting point of 53.0.
The next release of the ESI will be April 4, 2017.
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.