ESI: Consumer Sentiment Remains Near Historic Low
After a slight uptick last period, economic sentiment fell again over the past two weeks, declining 0.5 points to 40.5, according to the HPS-CivicScience Economic Sentiment Index (ESI). This reading marks the second-lowest in ESI history, following its all-time low of 40.1 last month.
This week’s reading indicates a divergence in consumer sentiment about their own finances versus the state of the overall economy. As Americans continue to grapple with a housing shortage, confidence in the housing market dropped 2.7 points to an all-time low of 27.4. Also driving this week’s decline in economic sentiment was falling confidence in personal finances, which fell 2.4 points to 53.1—likely a continued reflection of supply chain issues and inflation worries heading into the holiday season. On the other hand, confidence in the overall U.S. economy jumped to 38.1, a notable 3.9-point increase that may indicate rising optimism about the general economy—even if consumers aren’t feeling the same way about their own finances. Here’s how the other indicators moved:
– Confidence in making a major purchase dropped 0.8 points to 27.9
– Confidence in the job market dropped 0.2 points to 56.1
The ESI’s three-day moving average began the period on November 10 at a steady 41.9 before falling and rising in two cycles. It hit its period high of 42.9 on November 16 and low of 38.6 three days later. The moving average closed out on an upswing, reaching 41.8 on November 23.
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.