Machine-learning analysis of wage growth and labor cost discussions - tracking worker bargaining power, wage-price spiral risk, and employer hiring cost sentiment across sectors.

Consumer sentiment indicators track narrative shifts across spending categories, not just headline retail data. Category-level Awareness spikes often precede sector earnings revisions by four to six weeks as analyst coverage catches up to on-the-ground sentiment shifts. Sentiment divergences across related categories (e.g., healthcare rising, discretionary falling) can signal income-squeeze dynamics.

Key Drivers

• Retail sales reports (headline and core)
• Consumer confidence surveys
• Wage growth and disposable income data
• Credit card spending and delinquency trends
• Inflation pass-through commentary and pricing power signals

Reading the Mood Scale

• 0–20Severely Stressed. Coverage dominated by risk-aversion signals; narrative heavily skewed toward stressed conditions.
• 21–40Stressed. Below-neutral conditions with cautious market positioning; optimism subdued relative to the 30-day baseline.
• 41–60Stable. Balanced coverage with no clear directional bias. Market is in a wait-and-see posture, awaiting a catalyst.
• 61–80Confident. Positive momentum building in the narrative; coverage tilting toward confident catalysts and upside scenarios.
• 81–100Very Confident. Elevated risk of mean-reversion. Watch for sentiment exhaustion signals and divergence from the Awareness score.

How to Use This Index

• Use the Mood score to gauge the prevailing narrative bias for Wages at a glance.
• The Awareness score flags unusual spikes in coverage — early-warning signals that often precede price moves.
• Extreme readings (0–20 or 80–100) historically mark periods of heightened volatility and potential reversals.
• Compare across related topics to find cross-asset divergences and correlation breakdowns.
• Pro subscribers can view 3 years of history to calibrate thresholds against past market regimes.

This index is frequently referenced alongside wage inflation sentiment, labor cost trends, ai services inflation, internet wage discussions, alternative data labor — helping traders and analysts track Wages mood shifts in real time.