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For Immediate Release April 5, 2004
Contact: Cristi Allen
callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 817-640-6166

Arlington, Texas - The American economy continues a slow and steady expansion, according to the latest data release from Decision Analyst, Inc.'s U.S. Economic Index. The overall Index moved up to reach 113 in March. Rising confidence in business activity helped offset a worrying fall in stock market optimism.

"The first quarter of 2004 has been one of solid, if unspectacular, growth for the economy," said Jerry W. Thomas, President and CEO of Decision Analyst, a marketing research and marketing consulting firm. "It's particularly encouraging to see that our Index is being driven higher by rising business confidence."

The March Economic Index saw reported business activity still climbing, reaching a level seen only once (August 2001) in the last three years. The Index also saw a surge in corporate hiring trends, with confidence returning to post-September 11^th levels. The only major decline was in stock market confidence, which has slipped 13 percent since its recent December 2003 peak.

"The key trends are looking quite different from two quarters ago," Thomas says. "Then, rising stock market confidence was pushing ahead of business activity. Now the reverse is true. The challenge will be to ensure those market jitters - caused, in no small part, by the uncertain geopolitical situation - don't undermine business optimism and job creation."

Methodology

The Decision Analyst Economic Index is based on a monthly Internet survey of several thousand households balanced by gender, age, and geography. The survey is conducted during the last 10 days of each month, and the Index is immediately calculated from nine different economic measurements, using a sophisticated econometric model. The result is a snapshot of current U.S. economic activity, as seen through the eyes of representative consumers. Decision Analyst also conducts concurrent economic surveys in Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Mexico and Australia. Whenever the Decision Analyst Economic Index is greater than 110, it tends to signal an expanding economy. An Index value of 100 to 110 suggests a stagnant economy, and below 100 generally indicates economic contraction. These guidelines vary by country, however.

About Decision Analyst

Decision Analyst, Inc. is a leading marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, high technology, medical and pharmaceutical, utilities, and e-commerce industries. Decision Analyst operates American Consumer Opinion® Online, one of the world's largest Internet consumer opinion panels, with more than 3.5 million participants.

For additional information contact:
Cristi Allen
Publicity
Email: callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 1.800.ANALYSIS (262.5974)
Address: 604 Avenue H East
Arlington, TX 76011

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