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 continued to decline over the past two weeks, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The index dropped by a total of 1.2 points, declining from a reading of 53.1 points on April 3rd to 51.9 points on April 17th. This is the lowest level the ESI has hit since December 12th, 2017 and is 3.7 points off of its 2018 high from early February.
Four of the ESI’s five indicators fell during the two-week reading period. Confidence in the broader economy hit its lowest level in 2018, declining by 3.1 points, from 50.7 to 47.6. Consumer confidence in personal finances dropped by 0.8 points, from 65.4 to 64.6. Consumer sentiment towards making a major purchase declined from 53.3 to 51.5, a 1.8 point drop, while economic sentiment towards the U.S. housing market dropped slightly from 49.3 points to 49.0.
Confidence in the U.S. labor market rose slightly, moving up 0.1 points to a reading of 46.8.
