Silverman says data from online app signal changes in consumer sentiment and financial well-being

Dan Silverman says data from Pageonce, a program that allows users to pay bills and track their finances online, are useful predictors of how the Consumer Sentiment Index will change 5 weeks in the future. Pageonce captures data on expenditures, bills, and bank accounts for hundreds of thousands of people. These data can also be used, says Silverman, to track in real time the economic state of Americans older than 55 -- information formerly available solely through self-reports conducted biennially.