Thursday morning, the Conference Board released its report on leading economic indicators in the month of December, showing that its leading indicators index increased for the ninth consecutive month, rising by more than economists had anticipated.
The reported showed that the leading indicators index increased by 1.1 percent in December following an upwardly revised 1.0 percent increase in November. Economists had expected the index to increase by 0.7 percent compared to the 0.9 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.
Ataman Ozyildirim, an economist at the Conference Board, said, "The six-month growth rate has picked up slightly to 5.2 percent (about a 10.8 percent annual rate) in the period through December, substantially higher than earlier in the year."
"In addition, the strengths among the leading indicators have remained very widespread in recent months," he added.
Eight of the ten indicators that make up the leading index increased in December, with the interest rate spread, building permits, jobless claims, stock prices, and the index of consumer expectations among the biggest positive contributors.
Meanwhile, the workweek of production workers and manufacturers' new orders for consumer goods and materials held steady in December
The Conference Board also said that the coincident economic index edged up by 0.1 percent in December, matching the modest increases seen in each of the two previous months.
Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, said, "The coincident economic index shows slow expansion of economic activity through December."
Industrial production, personal income and manufacturing and trade sales contributed positively to the coincident index, while non-farm payroll employment contributed negatively.
On the other hand, the report showed that the lagging economic index fell 0.2 percent in December following a 0.5 percent decrease in November.
The continued decrease by the lagging index reflected negative contributions from commercial and industrial loans outstanding, average duration of unemployment, and the ratio of consumer installment credit to personal income.
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