The Microsoft-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index powered by HPS (“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 Microsoft-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 dropped slightly over the past two weeks, according to the Microsoft News-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI), powered by Hamilton Place Strategies. After the ESI slowly rose for the past two reading periods, consumer confidence dropped by 0.4 points over the last two weeks to 50.1. This dip in the index was led by a 3.9-point drop in consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy.

 

Five key indicators
Three of the ESI’s five indicators decreased during the reading period. Beyond plummeting consumer confidence in the broader U.S. economy, consumer sentiment toward personal finances and the U.S. labor market also experienced a decline, decreasing by 0.6 and 0.5 points, respectively. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment toward the housing market rose by 2.5 points to reach 53.2, and confidence in making a major purchase increased by 0.9 points to reach 52.4.
Read the full report here.