The Index of Consumer Confidence is issued periodically by The Conference Board, an independent economic research organization. It measures how consumers feel about the United States economy. U.S. Economic Calendar Economics at the Open Directory Project Economics textbooks on Wikibooks The Economists Economics A-Z Institutions and organizations Bureau of Labor Statistics - from the American Labor Department Center for Economic and Policy Research (USA) National Bureau of Economic Research (USA) - Economics material from the organization... In classical physics and engineering, measurement generally refers to the process of estimating or determining the ratio of a magnitude of a quantitative property or relation to a unit of the same type of quantitative property or relation. ...
It is an index started in 1985 at 100 and is normalised based on the Consumer Confidence level when it began. The Conference Board declares a recession whenever there are two or more consecutive quarters with confidence levels below 100.
Other consumer price indexes are issued that measure other populations.
The consumerindex for the second quarter stood at 137.2, which according to the researchers out-distanced the prior peak of 124.9 recorded in the first quarter of 2006.
The high hopes among consumers come on top of the most recently published opinion polls showing the prime minister's approval rating at an enviable 64%, although this was down somewhat from the stratospheric 78 per cent in the immediate aftermath of her election to succeed PJ Patterson.
The coincidence between Simpson Miller's personal popularity and the strong consumerconfidence could influence her to call an early general election to ride the wave but unless she can translate the confidence into stronger economic growth there is the real risk that the popularity could evaporate as fast as it was created.
The index recorded a confidence decline of 5.6 points to 118.3, with decreases in all regions of the country.
The July index was 123.9, with an average of 123 for most of this year and a range of between 120 and 125 for the last three years.
Economists expect the consumerconfidenceindex to be worse for September, once the impact of hurricane Katrina and the gasoline price hikes that have taken place in its aftermath are taken into account.
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