U.S. Leading Indicators Unchanged in October

The U.S. economy is recovering, but that recovery is likely to be weak through the beginning of 2003, a business research group said Thursday.

The Conference Board said that its index of leading ecnomic indicators was unchanged in October, marking the fifth straight month the index has not made a gain. In September, the index fell 0.4%.

The board said that four of the indicators used to compile the LEI – consumer expectations, falling stock prices, a reduced factory workweek and vendor performance.

Of the six indicators that rose during October were increased orders for business equipment and consumer goods and a rise in the number of homebuilding permits.

Analysts told Bloomberg News that the report did not point toward a stronger recovery in the next few months, but rather to the still fragile state of the U.S. economy.

The Conference Board is a nonprofit research and business group, with more than 2,700 corporate and other members around the world. Founded in 1916, it took over the job of computing composite economic indexes from the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1995.

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