ESI Rises Slightly As Summer Kicks Off
Consumer confidence rose slightly and recovered from its drop during the previous reading, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The ESI rose to 47.1, but remains well below its reading from this time last year, which was 48.8. The slight rise in consumer confidence was driven by four of the five indicators, with confidence in the labor market being the only component to fall.
Confidence in the national economy, personal finances, and in purchasing a new home all rose by a full point or more, driving most of the gain this reading. Confidence in making a major purchase also rose, while confidence in the labor market was the only component to fall slightly. Looking at this time last year, confidence in personal finances and in purchasing a home have remained the same or risen slightly. Confidence in making a major purchase and in the labor market have decreased slightly, and confidence in the national economy has fallen by more than four points.
The three day moving average fell at the beginning of the reading but then recovered quickly. The reading ended only 0.3 points above where it had begun.
The next release of the ESI will be June 14.
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.