Pointing to continued economic growth through the holiday season and into early 2015, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing that its index of leading U.S. economic indicators rose by more than anticipated in the month of October.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.9 percent in October following a 0.7 percent increase in September. Economists had expected the index to climb by 0.5 percent.
The bigger than expected increase reflected positive contributions by eight of the ten indicators that make up the leading economic index.
The interest rate spread, the ISM new orders index, average weekly initial jobless claims and building permits were among the biggest positive contributors. The only negative contributor was stock prices.
The report also said the coincident economic index inched up by 0.1 percent in October after rising by 0.3 percent in September.
Positive contributions from employees on non-agricultural payrolls, personal income less transfer payments and manufacturing and trade sales led to the modest uptick by the index.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board said the lagging economic index edged down by 0.1 percent in October after ticking up by 0.1 percent in September.
The modest drop reflected negative contributions from commercial and industrial loans outstanding, the average duration of unemployment and the change in manufacturing unit labor costs.
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