For Immediate Release
March 8, 2010
Contact: Cristi Allen
callen@decisionanalyst.com
Phone: 817-640-6166

Arlington, Texas—Decision Analyst’s International Economic Indices show a mix of slow recovery for some countries and continued recession for others. Despite the concerns about massive debt, Italy’s Index increased three points from a 92 in January to 95 in February, while another country with massive debt, Spain, decreased two points from a 90 in January to 88 in February. Germany, Australia, and Canada appear to be doing slightly better than the U.S., while China, Brazil, and India are growing very rapidly. Since this Index tends to lead the economy by nine to 12 months, the Economic Index continues to predict a weak global recovery during 2010. Below are the International Economic Indices for the past three years.

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*Data collection for China began in October 2007.

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“While the U.S. Economic Index is off its lows, the U.S. is still experiencing tough economic conditions," said Jerry W. Thomas, President/CEO of Decision Analyst. “Many small businesses in the U.S. have no access, or limited access, to credit and bank loans, and this is making the nascent recovery slow and fragile. U.S. consumers continue to struggle with high debt loads, high unemployment, salary cuts, and reduced access to credit. Consumers are slowly regaining some confidence, as evidenced by a slight increase in planned purchases of durable goods in 2010. On a global scale, the beginnings of recovery in Europe may be dragged down by the heavy debt burdens of Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal (and don't forget the U.K.). European recovery will be contingent upon how well these countries manage their debts and whether the European Union or IMF (International Monetary Fund) comes to their rescue. Any of these countries could pose a risk to the global financial system and possibly trigger another freeze-up of financial markets.”

Three-Month Moving Average

The Index numbers for Mexico, Germany, Spain, Australia, Argentina and China are a three-month moving average to smooth out month-to-month fluctuations. The reported Index number averages the current month with the two previous months.

Methodology

The Decision Analyst Economic Index is based on a monthly Internet survey of several thousand households balanced by gender, age, and geography. The online survey is conducted the last 10 days of each month. The Economic Index is calculated from nine different economic measurements using a sophisticated econometric model. The result is a snapshot of current economic activity in each country surveyed, as seen through the eyes of representative consumers living in the respective countries. Decision Analyst conducts its concurrent economic surveys each month in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Russian Federation, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, 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 analytical consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The 31-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 eight 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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