Soccer Mom Indicator

So...don't get mad at us. We're aware that this term is both gendered and sportist. Yeah, you don't have to be a mom to drive your kids to soccer. Dads do that all the time as well. Also, maybe your kids don't like soccer. Plenty of hockey moms and dads, or drama camp moms and dads, or interpretive dance moms and dads. But it's not our term...we're just reporting here.

With that out of the way, here's how it works:

The soccer mom indicator is meant to test consumer sentiment. Specifically, it's a term that describes things that are important to the general public.

What are parents talking about when they're standing around watching their kids trip over their feet trying to run toward a soccer goal? Are they discussing interest rates? The stock market? Housing prices?

It's key to remember that the soccer mom indicator is an informal thing. There's no quantitative report that's released quarterly by a high-falutin' think tank outlining the details in several sub-indicators. It's just a way to describe what retail investors are thinking about.