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A search on "consumer confidence" led directly to The Conference Board, publishers of the monthly Consumer Confidence Index. A global, non-profit research organization for business leaders, The Conference Board also publishes the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators (aka "the leading index") and the Business Cycle Indicators. The Board "creates and disseminates knowledge about management and the marketplace to help businesses strengthen their performance and better serve society." This includes assessing how U.S. consumers feel about buying, spending, and the state of their personal finances. The Consumer
Confidence Index is based on a monthly survey. Market research firm NFO WorldGroup administers questions to a changing representative panel of 5,000 U.S. households. Five carefully chosen questions are designed to gauge public confidence in the wellbeing of the U.S. economy. The data is then used by numerous industries including retailers, manufacturers, banks, and U.S. government agencies, not to mention journalists, pundits, and prognosticators. You must subscribe in order to read the full Consumer Confidence Survey. (The cost is $150 annually if you are not a Conference Board associate, $120 if you
are.) However, you can take a sample survey on the Web, and then compare your answers with online respondents who filled out the questionnaire in May 2001 on PBS's Online NewsHour. In a special report last year, NewsHour reporter Paul Solman discussed consumer confidence and what it means for the rest of us. If you're tracking consumer confidence, the Conference Board's research is not the only game in town. The University of Michigan Survey Research Center publishes a frequently cited monthly Survey of Consumers.
Guests must log in to access the site, but once in, you can read a detailed press release about consumer sentiment in May 2002. Using Adobe Acrobat, we glanced at a recent edition of the nine-page questionnaire. A detailed overview of the survey, which has been conducted since 1946, is also available. Telephone interviewers based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, ask 50 core questions to a random sampling of adult respondents. The eagerly awaited results come out on the second and fourth Fridays of the month, and reflect public sentiment on the current economy as well as future expectations.
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