May 14, 2020 - Economy & Business

Economic sentiment is being pulled in both directions

Dion Rabouin, author of Markets
Data: Hamilton Place Strategies and CivicScience; Chart: Axios Visuals

The latest reading of a daily economic sentiment indicator from data firm CivicScience and consulting firm Hamilton Place Strategies finds Americans' overall confidence has reached a crossroads and is holding steady.

What it means: The index is made up of confidence readings in different sectors and responses have sharply diverged in recent weeks.

The big picture: Confidence in the housing market increased for a second straight week, as did confidence in making a major purchase and buying a new home.

  • Confidence in the overall economy led the falling readings, reversing a previous eight-week rebound, along with declining confidence in personal finances and confidence in the job market, which fell to its lowest level since the inception of the ESI.

Go deeper: Americans don't realize that coronavirus recovery may take months

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 6,724.516 — Total deaths: 394,018 — Total recoveries — 2,996,832 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 1,894,753 — Total deaths: 109,042 — Total recoveries: 491,706 — Total tested: 19,231,444 — Map.
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  4. Sports: How coronavirus could reshuffle the sports calendar.
  5. Jobs: Better-than-expected jobs report boosts stock market.
  6. Media: The Athletic lays off 8% of staff, implements company-wide pay cut.
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