This paper analyses the leading characteristics of the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) with respect to stock market returns for 11 New EU Member States. It proposes novel CCI weights by minimizing mean squared errors from regression forecasting equations, using CCI lags as regressors. With...

The economies of European countries have been undergoing constant turbulence for several years. This is the consequence of a range of factors, in particular: the 2007 crisis; violations of the convergence criteria and fiscal discipline; problems with the liquidity of international financial...