Economic Confidence Slide Halted: Decision Analyst's Economic Index Bounces Back In November.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- After three monthly declines, confidence in the American economy finally broke out if its slump; that's according to Decision Analyst's November U.S. Economic Index. The overall Index staged a strong recovery, rising to 112 on the back of increased consumer and stock market confidence.

Decision Analyst U.S. Economic Index for the Past 13 Months

2003          November               111
              December               114
2004          January                111
              February               112
              March                  113
              April                  111
              May                    106
              June                   111
              July                   114
              August                 113
              September              112
              October                108
              November               112

"A post-election upturn in confidence is exactly what the economy needed," said Jerry W. Thomas, President and CEO of Decision Analyst, a marketing research and marketing consulting firm. "Still, the Index remains below where it was both at the beginning of the year and at its summer peak, indicating how lackluster the economy remains."

The November Economic Index saw significant increases in two key indicators: stock market confidence and consumer future purchase intent. Scaled stocks confidence was up nine percent from October; customer purchase intent rose a striking 16 percent.

"With the negativity of the presidential campaign now behind us, it was likely that consumer confidence would rise," Thomas said. "What remains to be determined is if that confidence can be sustained over the coming months. If it can, then we should see business activity (which strengthened slightly in November) increase more rapidly."

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(R) Online, one of the world's largest Internet consumer opinion panels, with more than 3.5 million participants.