September Consumer Confidence Down, Impulsivity And Spending Forecast Sideways

September economic indicators show that U.S. consumers’ confidence has been shaken a bit, likely due to the stock market correction and continued volatility on Wall Street. Key markers such as confidence, happiness, and the Prosper Spending Forecast are all off from highs recorded earlier this year, indicating that the coming quarter will continue to be bumpy. Prosper Consumer Confidence: Consumer confidence is down two points to 44.9% for September—a new low for the calendar year. While this month’s reading tracks a few points ahead of the 13 month low (Oct-14 = 41.0%), it resides below the 13 month average (47.2%). Current sentiment is on par with September 2014.ABOUT: Consumer confidence is based on respondents who indicated that they are either confident or very confident in the chances of a strong economy during the next six months. Prosper Consumer Spending Forecast: At 81.5, the September Consumer Spending Forecast is sideways from last month (-1.0%) and last year (+1.0%). Similar to confidence, the Consumer Spending Forecast is off from earlier this year. ABOUT: The Prosper Consumer Spending Forecast is an advanced predictive analytic derived from two established databases (the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey and Prosper's Monthly Consumer Survey) and represents consumers' intended spending levels over the next 90 days in 20 retail categories. The consumer intentions data for the 20 categories is weighted by age and gender to reflect the U.S. population and then weighted to reflect the actual percentage of total retail expenditures for each of the categories. Prosper Happiness Score: At 107.8,The Happiness Score is up slightly from last month (106.3). The score, however, is still below the high for this year of 109.6, which was reported in June. ABOUT: The Prosper Happiness Score provides the current happiness level of U.S. Consumers. Prosper has found that happiness highly correlates with consumer spending decisions, knowing that happier people buy houses and cars and are more likely to open their wallets. Find out how happy your customers and potential customers are and narrow down the focus of your marketing strategy. Prosper Auto Outlook: The outlook for September is down 18% from August and up 14% from September of 2014, suggesting that September auto sales will be down from last month, but up from last year. Ford, Honda and Chevrolet are the top three brands being considered by people planning to buy a vehicle in the next six months. ABOUT: The Prosper Auto Sales Outlook provides marketers with directional insight into lightweight vehicle sales both month-over-month and year-over-year. Prosper applies their proprietary algorithm to commerce data sets on lightweight vehicle sales and Prosper’s unique purchase intentions data to derive the Auto Outlook. Prosper Impulsivity Score: At 2.80, the Prosper Impulsivity Score is relatively flat month-over-month (vs. 2.86 in August 2015). With a Consumer Spending Forecast rating of 88.8, impulsive consumers continue to be more likely to be planning to spend more over the next 90 days. However, this is down approximately two percentage points from last month (90.6), indicating that they remain somewhat cautious. ABOUT: The Prosper Impulsivity Score is an indicator of how much, or how little, consumers are living in the moment when it comes to their spending habits. Highly correlated with many key government data series, the Impulsivity Score is a key indicator of how consumers will be spending. To view these and additional insights, please visit: www.ForbesExecutiveInsightCenter.com. (Registration is required for complimentary access.)