Amazon.com is the top performing brand in the U.S. based on "trust" and "recommendation," according to a new report from Milward Brown.

The report titled "Beyond Trust: Engaging Consumers in the Post-Recession World" was conducted in partnership with The Futures Company and introduces "TrustR," a new metric for understanding the relationship between consumers and brands.

"The 'TrustR' metric is very relevant in a global economy that is struggling to emerge from a gloomy recessionary period," said Eileen Campbell, Global CEO of Millward Brown.

"Consumers are less likely to spend hard-earned money on brands that they don't trust. In fact, we found that the number one 'TrustR' brand in each of the 22 countries we researched was nearly seven times more likely to be purchased and consumers were 10 times more likely to have formed a strong bond with these brands."

TrustR is calculated by looking at consumer responses to the questions "how trustworthy is this brand?" and "would you recommend this brand?" the scores are indexed and combined to reach a TrustR score. The average score is 100, and anything over 105 is considered good.

Amazon scored 123, followed closely by FedEx at 122 and Downy, Huggies, Tide, and Tylenol all had scores of 120.

The Top 10 Most Trusted and Recommended Brands in the U.S.

Source: Millward Brown

Note: Study conducted over the course of 2009, prior to Toyota's recent recall

"When a person recommends a brand they put their own personal trust and credibility on the line. They are only willing to recommend brands which themselves have proven reliable and trustworthy," said Nigel Hollis, EVP and Chief Global Analyst  of Millward Brown.

"Amazon.com, the brand ranked first in the U.S. by TrustR, has achieved that status through exceptional service and providing its own recommendations to users. This combination has made Amazon the gold standard of trust and recommendation in the U.S."