For Immediate Release November 09, 2004
Contact: Cristi Allen
callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 817-640-6166

Arlington, Texas - Confidence in the American economy is in dire need of a post-election pick-me-up; that’s according to the October data from Decision Analyst’s U.S. Economic Index. The overall Index fell for the third straight month, declining to 108, the second-lowest level seen in the past two years.

“Three months of decline for the Index points to a serious issue of confidence,” said Jerry W. Thomas, President and CEO of Decision Analyst, a marketing research and marketing consulting firm. “Far from 2004 being a breakout year, the Index might end the year lower than it was in 2003.”

The October Economic Index saw worrying declines in three key categories: stock market confidence, price concerns and customer purchase intent. The most worrying of these was future purchasing intent, which slumped more than eight percent over the September value.

“Once again, the two most visible measures of confidence – the stock markets and consumers – are taking the biggest hits,” Thomas said. “All we can really do is hope that, with the U.S. political landscape now in post-election calm, confidence returns before business activity is too strongly hit.”

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 (www.decisionanalyst.com) 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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