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.
Excerpt From the Latest Reading:
Consumer confidence slipped slightly over the past two weeks, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The 0.4-point drop to 51.1 in the first half of March reverses the ESI’s modest recovery throughout 2019 so far.
Three out of the ESI’s five indicators increased during the reading. The only indicator to increase significantly was consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy, which moved up by 0.6 to hit 48.0 points. Economic sentiment toward the housing and labor markets each ticked up by a mere 0.1 to reach 47.8 and 45.1 points, respectively. Meanwhile, the largest change in any indicator was a decline in consumer confidence in personal finances, which decreased by 2.0 points to a reading of 62.4. Economic sentiment toward making a major purchase also fell, dropping from 53.2 to 52.1 points.
