Election Day Hits as Economic Optimism Dropped

Economic Optimism, Presidential Leadership and National Outlook indexes have dipped for the second consecutive month as Financial Related Stress improves

Coinciding with election day, the monthly IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index, a leading national poll on consumer confidence, dropped for the second straight month, moving from 41.6 in October to 40.4 in November– a change of 2.9%. This kept the index in negative territory for the 15th consecutive month. A reading above 50.0 signals optimism and below 50.0 indicates pessimism on IBD/TIPP indexes.

Markets saw a few points of very modest improvement across this month’s indexes, most notably in the Financial Related Stress Index and in the Personal Financial Outlook, but economic pessimism continues to rule the day.

The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index has established a strong track record of expecting the confidence indicators issued later each month by the University of Michigan and The Conference Board.