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For Immediate Release July 6, 2009
Contact: Cristi Allen
callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 817-640-6166

Arlington, Texas—The Decision Analyst United Kingdom Economic Index declined five points to 86 for June. The indices in China , Brazil , and India are comparatively higher than the indices in other countries. The major countries in Europe have shown a little improvement (except for the U.K. and Spain ) but are still clearly in a recession and facing difficult times.

The Economic Index tends to be a leading indicator, usually anticipating changes in gross domestic product by 10 to 12 months. The graphs below chart the history for each Index from when Decision Analyst started tracking for each separate country.

North America

“As the longer term perspective reveals, the economies in the U.S., France , and Italy never fully recovered from the recession of 2000-2001 and for the U.S. , the adverse events of 9-11. Despite very low interest rates and an abundant money supply, the U.S. economy idled along in low gear from 2001 to 2007, before plunging much lower,” said Thomas. “The recovery will be slow and tedious. It will take years before the Index numbers return to 2000 levels. Growing unemployment will act as a drag on the economy, and will constrain sales of many consumer goods and services in coming months. Lack of credit at all levels (business and consumer) will be a significant burden on the economy. Consumer and commercial mortgage defaults will continue to pose problems for another 24 to 36 months,” according to Thomas. “All of these negative headwinds will mean slow and fragile economic growth for the foreseeable future.”

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 typically conducted in the last 10 days of each month. The Index is 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 Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, and Venezuela. 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 slow-growth economy, and near or below 100 generally indicates economic contraction. These guidelines vary by country, however.

About Decision Analyst

Decision Analyst (www.decisionanalyst.com) is a leading global marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The 30-year-old firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, technology, medical, and pharmaceutical industries. In addition, Decision Analyst owns and operates the American Consumer Opinion® Online panel—one of the largest consumer opinion panels in the world—with more than seven million members.

For additional information contact:
Cristi Allen
Publicity
Email: callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 1-800-ANALYSIS (262-5974) or 1-817-640-6166
Address: 604 Avenue H East
Arlington, TX 76011

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