Leading Economic Indicators Increased 0.4% in November
The index of U.S. leading economic indicators increased in November, buoyed by more home construction permits and higher stock prices.
The Conference Board’s measure of the economic outlook for the next three to six months rose 0.4% after climbing 0.6% in October, the New York-based research group said Dec. 17. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists called for a 0.1% increase.
Five of the 10 indicators of the composite gauge advanced. They also included a favorable interest-rate spread and pickup in consumer goods orders.
“Although the six-month growth rate of the LEI has moderated, the economic outlook for the final quarter of the year and into the new year remains positive,” Ataman Ozyildirim, director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at the Conference Board, said in a statement.
Economists’ estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from no change to a 0.5% advance.
The Conference Board’s coincident economic index, a measure of current economic activity, rose 0.1% in November after a 0.2% increase the prior month. The gauge is determined by growth in industrial production, sales, payrolls and incomes -- the measures used by the National Bureau of Economic Research to determine the beginning and end of U.S. recessions.
The gauge of lagging indicators increased 0.3% in November after a 0.2% advance the month before.
