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U.S. leading index increased 0.3 percent
The Conference Board announced today that the U.S. leading index increased 0.3 percent, the coincident index decreased 0.5 percent and the lagging index decreased 0.2 percent in September.
Real money supply, consumer expectations, the interest rate spread, and the index of supplier deliveries all made large positive contributions to the index in September, more than offsetting the negative contributions from building permits, stock prices, initial claims for unemployment insurance (inverted) and the average workweek in manufacturing.
The coincident index decreased sharply in September and it has declined or held steady since October 2007. The behavior of the composite indexes suggests that the economy is unlikely to improve in the near term.
Posted: October 20, 2008 Monday 10:08 AM