LEI Down Slightly in January, Conference Board Reports

The Conference Board, an economic research group, said Thursday that its index of leading economic indicators fell 0.1% in January. The index had risen for the previous three months, the board said.

The group had to reissue its report, after it was observed that part of the data used in compiling the report was not properly revised, Bloomberg reported. The original LEI report showed that the figure was unchanged in January.

The board revised the LEI upward for December, November and October to reflect increases of 0.2%, 0.5% and 0.1% respectively.

Five of the 10 contributing indicators that make up LEI increased in January, the board reported. The indicators that showed increases were average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance, real money supply, vendor performance, manufacturers' new orders for consumer goods and materials, the board said.

The negative contributors to LEI, according to the Conference Board, were index of consumer expectations, building permits, average weekly manufacturing hours, manufacturers' new orders for nondefense capital goods, and stock prices.

The LEI now stands at 111.2, the board said. The LEI is based on a scale where conditions in 1996 are 100, the group’s press release said.

Economists often use the LEI to project economic conditions three to six months in the future.

Based in New York, the Conference Board was founded in 1916, but has been computing composite economic indexes for the Commerce Department since 1995.

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(Click here for the full press release.)