Polling for this month’s Economic Confidence Meter took place in the second half of July, soon after Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress that the economy will rebound in the second half of 2003, and grow by 3.75 percent to 4.75 percent in 2004. Between this and other signs of recovery, it’s no surprise then that our C-meter for the overall economy remained at 5.9, its highest level since July 2002. The score for the respondents’ industry also rose to 5.9, its highest level since Oct. 2002. While confidence in the construction industry dropped nine tenths of a point since July to 5.8, most likely because of rising interest rates, most industries saw an uptick—most notably the transportation industry, where confidence can be said to soar from 4.7 in July to 6.8 in
September.
