Despite the exuberance of certain government-sponsored confidence surveys, Gallup's weekly measure of economic confidence [4] in America continues to go absolutely nowhere. As they note, so far, 2014 has been a unique year for the U.S. Economic Confidence Index in its doldrum-like range, stagnant and still negative.
Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index remained at -17 in the first week of September, the same score as in the last week of August. For the sixth week in a row, index readings have not strayed from a narrow range of -15 to -17.
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Bottom Line
So far, 2014 has been a unique year for the U.S. Economic Confidence Index in that it has been remarkably steady throughout the winter, spring, and summer. In previous years, the weekly index readings from January through August had high-to-low ranges of 17 to 36 index points. In 2014, the index has stayed within a narrower eight-point range.
However, the index remains in negative territory. And though it has been stable, it can also be viewed as stagnant, because it has registered no real improvements in economic confidence.
Source: Gallup [4]
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Recovery?
