ESI: Consumer Economic Sentiment Collapses To Historic Low
Overall consumer economic sentiment dropped 1.4 points to 40.1, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI), tying with March 2020 for the lowest recording in ESI history.
Confidence in making a major purchase fell drastically, declining 6.2 points to an all-time low of 25.1, amid supply chain problems that have exacerbated price increases for larger items, including vehicles and televisions. Meanwhile, consumer prices rose 5.4% in September, global energy prices soared to their highest levels in years, and the Federal Reserve has indicated growing concerns about lasting inflation and supply chain issues. For the second ESI reading in a row, confidence in the overall U.S. economy reached a record low, falling 0.9 points to 34.6. Here’s how the other indicators moved:
– Confidence in finding a new job rose 0.6 points to 56.5
– Confidence in personal finances remained at 54.3
– Confidence in the housing market fell 0.9 points to 29.8
The ESI’s three-day moving average began the period at its high of 43.8 on SThe ESI’s three-day moving average began at 40.6 on October 13. It reached its high of 42.9 on October 18 before falling again, hitting its low of 38.8 on October 23. It closed at 39.2 on October 26.
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 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.