For
Immediate Release: Thursday, April
15, 2004
Buying
Plans Down Except for Furniture
Microsoft Word Version
Loudonville,
NY – Consumer
confidence in Upstate New York dropped 2 points in March, while confidence in
metro New York City went up six tenths of a point - - resulting in a drop in
overall confidence of a mere tenth of a point, according to the latest
poll by the Siena (College) Research Institute (SRI). Overall statewide consumer
confidence is 13.2 points higher than it was in March 2003, but still
considerably below the nation*, which went up 1.4 points to 95.8.
|
March
2004 Consumer
Confidence: |
The Nation |
New
York State |
diff. pts |
|
New
York State
|
Metro New York City
|
Upstate NY |
Overall
|
95.8
(+1.4) |
81.2
(-0.1) |
14.6 |
81.2
(-0.1) |
82.2
(+0.6) |
78.5
(-2.0) |
|
|
Current |
106.8
(+3.2) |
83.4
(+0.4) |
23.4 |
83.4
(+0.4) |
79.6
(+1.5) |
90.6no
chng |
|
|
Future |
88.8 (+0.3) |
79.8
(-0.5) |
9.0 |
79.8
(-0.5) |
83.9
no chng |
70.8
(-3.2) |
Each
month, the SRI survey establishes a Consumer Confidence index number for New
York State consumers. This index number allows a comparison of New Yorkers to
all Americans (“the nation”) as surveyed by the University of Michigan’s
Consumer Sentiment index. The SRI survey measures current and future
consumer confidence, which combined provides the overall consumer
confidence. SRI further looks at confidence in New York State by region (metro
New York City and Upstate), age, income, gender and party.
Consumer
Confidence in New York State: February/March 2004
(Groups
listed in descending order by March’s Overall CCI
Rating) |
|||||||||
|
|
Overall |
Current |
Future |
||||||
|
|
Feb |
Mar |
chng |
Feb |
Mar |
chng |
Feb |
Mar |
chng |
|
Republicans
|
97.8 |
96.4 |
-1.4 |
99.3 |
102.3 |
+3.0 |
96.8 |
92.7 |
-4.1 |
|
Higher
income |
87.3 |
86.1 |
-1.2 |
89.8 |
91.3 |
+1.5 |
85.6 |
82.7 |
-2.9 |
|
Under
Age 55 |
84.6 |
84.6 |
no
chng |
85.3 |
85.3 |
no
chng |
84.2 |
84.2 |
no
chng |
|
Metro
NYC |
81.6 |
82.2 |
+0.6 |
78.1 |
79.6 |
+1.5 |
83.9 |
83.9 |
no
chng |
|
Men
|
85.9 |
81.3 |
-4.6 |
86.8 |
84.1 |
-2.7 |
85.4 |
79.6 |
-5.8 |
|
New
York State
|
81.3 |
81.2 |
-0.1 |
83.0 |
83.4 |
+0.4 |
80.3 |
79.8 |
-0.5 |
|
Women
|
77.3 |
80.6 |
+3.3 |
79.6 |
82.6 |
+3.0 |
75.9 |
79.3 |
+3.4 |
|
Upstate
NY |
80.5 |
78.5 |
-2.0 |
90.6 |
90.6 |
no
chng |
74.0 |
70.8 |
-3.2 |
|
Democrats
|
73.8 |
75.4 |
+1.6 |
71.6 |
76.2 |
+4.6 |
75.2 |
74.9 |
-0.3 |
|
Age
55+ |
73.6 |
74.8 |
+1.2 |
77.7 |
80.0 |
+2.3 |
71.0 |
71.5 |
+0.5 |
|
Lower
income |
74.7 |
74.4 |
-0.3 |
74.7 |
73.1 |
-1.6 |
74.7 |
75.2 |
+0.5 |
|
|
Overall Mar. CCI Stats: Highest
CCI: 96.4 (Republicans)
Lowest CCI:
74.4
(lower
income)
Greatest
drop: -4.6 (men) Greatest
rise: +3.3 (women) |
Current Mar. CCI Stats: Highest
CCI: 102.3 (Republicans) Lowest CCI:
73.1
(lower
income) Greatest
drop: -2.7 (men) Greatest
rise: +4.6 (Democrats)
|
Future Mar. CCI Stats: Highest
CCI: 92.7 (Republicans) Lowest CCI:
70.8
(Upstate
NY) Greatest
drop: -5.8 (men) Greatest
rise: +3.4 (women)
|
||||||
Buying
plans were mixed: major home improvements, down 0.9 of a point to 24.4%;
computers, down 4.4 points to 15.3%; cars and trucks, down 4.8 points to 14.6%;
home buying, down 0.4 of a point to 6.9%; and furniture, up 3.5 points to 26.4%.
“Consumer Confidence in New York State held steady in March because of mixed economic news,” notes Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom, professor of statistics and finance at Siena College and SRI Director. “High energy prices and a flat stock market were offset by gains in employment.”
The
SRI survey of Consumer Confidence was conducted in March 2004 by random
telephone calls to 622 New York State residents over the age of 18.
It has a margin of error of + 3.9 points.
For more information or comments, please call Dr. Douglas Lonnstrom,
Siena College professor of finance and statistics and SRI Director, at
518-456-6073 (home) or 518-783-2362 (office).
Survey cross-tabulations and frequencies can be found at www.siena.edu/sri/surveys.asp. *National data compiled by the University of Michigan.