Economic Confidence Index was quite strong in early 2015, and consistently reached positive territory each week in January and early February of last year. Index scores fell in subsequent months, bottoming out at -17 in late August. Since that low point, scores have remained within a narrow window of -15 to -10, apart from the brief mid-January exception.
Americans' economic confidence has withstood significant volatility in the stock market in recent months and has seemed resistant to a new wave of declining gas prices as well as moderately positive news on the labor front. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. unemployment rate dipped below 5.0% for the first time since 2008, although job gains in January did not meet expectations.
Gallup's U.S. Economic Confidence Index is the average of two components: how Americans rate current economic conditions and whether they feel the economy is getting better or getting worse. The index has a theoretical maximum of +100 if all U.S. adults say the economy is doing well and getting better, and it has a theoretical minimum of -100 if all U.S. adults say the economy is doing poorly and getting worse.
These data are available in Gallup Analytics.
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