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.
Latest ESI Reading
The new year started with a significant drop in Americans’ economic sentiment, according to the first 2020 reading of the Microsoft News-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). The ESI fell 1.2 points to begin 2020 with a reading of 52.0. This sharp fall marks the first decline since October 2019. The reading was driven by a 2.9-point decline in consumers’ confidence in the U.S. economy.
All five of the ESI’s indicators fell during the reading period. Consumer confidence in the U.S. economy decreased the most, falling from 49.7 to 46.8. Consumer confidence in personal finances fell by 1.0 points following last readings large spike of 3.9 points. Confidence in the job market and the housing market both experienced similar declines falling by 0.9 and 0.8 points respectively. Confidence in making a major purchase continued its decline from last reading falling by 0.4 points.
Read the full report here.
