Consumers Slightly More Upbeat in Second Quarter, Survey Shows
by July 20, 2012 1:34 pm 70 views
A recent survey of consumers in the Fort Smith Metropolitan Statistical Area showed continued overall “modest” improvement in attitudes regarding economic conditions.
The Index of Consumer Sentiment for the Fort Smith MSA was 59.8, up 0.8 percent from the first quarter, and much improved from the 55.3 score for the second quarter of 2011.
Index scores below 100 reflect less optimism about the economy than scores above 100.
Conducted by the Center for Business Research and Economic Development at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, the survey has several components, including an Index of Current Conditions and an Index of Consumer Expectations.
The ICC, which measures consumers’ attitudes about their current economic situation, rose 4.3 percent over the previous quarter, to 63.2. That’s well above the 55.1 recorded in last year’s second quarter.
However, the ICE, which measures consumer feelings about future economic conditions, was down 1.5 percent from the first quarter, at 57.5, and up only slightly from 55.5 the previous year.
CBRED director Kermit Kuehn wrote in a news release that while the overall score improved somewhat over the previous quarter, consumer sentiment “is generally weak across items in the survey.”
“Ratings of prospects for jobs and the economy overall are anything but positive,” he wrote. “Sentiment might be expected to slide further if the economic news, nationally and globally, continues its current negative tone through the summer.”
The CBRED, part of the university’s College of Business, will release a more detailed analysis of the survey findings in its Fort Smith Regional Economic Outlook Report in September.