By Kathleen Madigan
The Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator rose for the third month in a row, as job gains are providing momentum to the U.S. economy.
The ESI advanced to 48.1 in March, from 47.4 in February. The ESI is now at its highest reading since December 2007, although the rate of progress last month was slower than in previous months.
“The indicator suggests that employment growth remained robust during the month and that the recovery is in hand, although not yet with the ebullience of past rebounds out of recession,” said Dow Jones Newswires “Money Talks” columnist Alen Mattich.
Positive coverage continues to be driven by better news on the labor markets. Better job growth will provide the money and confidence consumers need to keep lifting their spending, a key driver of U.S. economic activity. Coverage of the Federal Reserve was also positive for the outlook.
Negative news was dominated by the sting of higher gasoline prices. Worries about the health of the U.S. banking system were also a negative for future growth.
The economic sentiment indicator is designed to project the health of the U.S. economy by analyzing coverage of 15 major American newspapers, using a proprietary algorithm to look for positive and negative sentiment about the economy in every article.
The ESI is reported on a scale of 0 to 100; higher numbers represent increasingly positive sentiment. Dow Jones selected the 15 newspapers used to compile the indicator because they include extensive original reporting on economic issues. They are also geographically diverse and represent eight of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.
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