U.S. Leading Economic Index Rises 0.6% In November, In Line With Estimates
19 December 2014 - 3:08AM
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Signaling continued moderate growth through the winter, the
Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing that its
index of leading U.S. economic indicators increased in line with
estimates in the month of November.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.6
percent in November following a downwardly revised 0.6 percent
increase in October.
Economists had expected the index to climb by 0.6 percent
compared to the 0.9 percent advance originally reported for the
previous month.
The continued increase reflected positive contributions from
eight of the ten indicators that make up the leading index,
including the interest rate spread, the ISM new orders index, stock
prices, and the Leading Credit Index.
Ataman Ozyildirim, an economist at the Conference Board, said,
"Widespread and persistent gains in the LEI point to strong
underlying conditions in the U.S. economic expansion."
The report also said the coincident economic index rose by 0.4
percent in November after edging up by 0.2 percent in October.
Industrial production and employees on non-farm payrolls made
the largest positive contributions to the coincident index.
Additionally, the Conference Board said the lagging economic
index increased by 0.3 percent in November after coming in
unchanged in October.
The increase reflected positive contributions from commercial
and industrial loans outstanding, the ratio of consumer installment
credit to personal income and the change in labor costs.