Michigan Consumer Sentiment: A Small Improvement

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index preliminary number for August came in at 73.6, a small increase over the 73.2 June final. Today's number was slightly above Briefing.com's consensus forecast of 72.2.

See the chart below for a long-term perspective on this widely watched index. Because the sentiment index has trended upward since its inception in 1978, I've added a linear regression to help understand the pattern of reversion to the trend. I've also highlighted recessions and included real GDP to help evaluate the correlation between the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index and the broader economy.

To put today's report into the larger historical context since its beginning in 1978, consumer sentiment is about 14% below the average reading (arithmetic mean), 13% below the geometric mean, and 13% below the regression line on the chart above. The current index level is at the 23 percentile of the 416 monthly data points in this series.

The Michigan average since its inception is 84.8. During non-recessionary years the average is 87.9. The average during the five recessions is 69.3. So the latest sentiment number of 73.6 puts us below the midpoint (78.6) between recessionary and non-recessionary sentiment averages. In fact, we're just 4.3 points above the recession average and 14.3 points the below non-recession average.

The indicator can be somewhat volatile. For a visual sense of the volatility here is a chart with the monthly data and a three-month moving average.

For the sake of comparison here is a chart of the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index (monthly update here). The Conference Board Index is the more volatile of the two, but the broad pattern and general trends are remarkably similar to the Michigan Index.

And finally, the prevailing mood of the Michigan survey is also similar to the mood of small business owners, as captured by the NFIB Business Optimism Index (monthly update here).

The trend in sentiment since the Financial Crisis lows had been one of slow improvement, but it topped out in February of last year at 77.5 and plunged to an interim low of 55.7 in August. The steady rise since the August trough had been encouraging. But the last three months have been hovering close to the same level in the low seventies.