US Economic Confidence Steady: Gallup

Gallup's U.S. economic confidence index averaged minus 14 in June, the same reading as in April and May. Confidence ticked slightly higher earlier in the month with the index averaging minus 12 in each of the first two weeks but retreated near the end, with subsequent weekly readings of minus 15 and minus 17. Gallup's June data show no immediate effect on Americans' confidence in the U.S. economy. The referendum did cause instantaneous turmoil in U.S. markets, which have since recovered, but the long-term effect of Brexit on the U.S. economy -- and by extension, Americans' confidence in it -- is unclear.

Americans' economic confidence began to slide in the first week of June prior to the Brexit vote and remained lower the following week, perhaps related to the anxiety leading up to the British referendum. Although the latest weekly figure is on the low end of what Gallup recorded in 2015 and thus far in 2016, it is much higher than all monthly readings from 2008 to 2011.

In June, the current conditions score registered minus 6, the result of 25 percent of U.S. adults rating the current economy as "excellent" or "good" and 31 percent rating it as "poor." June's result is consistent with the minus 1 to minus 7 range for this component since April of last year. Meanwhile, the economic outlook score in June remained at minus 22, the same as in May and the lowest this component has been since November 2013. The outlook score is based on 37 percent of U.S. adults saying the economy is "getting better" and 59 percent saying it is "getting worse."