The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.6 percent in June to 127.8, following a 0.2 percent increase in May and a 0.2 percent increase in April.

“The U.S. LEI rose sharply in June, pointing to continued growth in the U.S. economy and perhaps even a moderate improvement in GDP growth in the second half of the year,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, director of business cycles and growth research at The Conference Board. “The broad-based gain in the U.S. LEI was led by a large contribution from housing permits, which improved after several months of weakness.”

The Coincident Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.2 percent in June to 115.5, following a 0.3 percent increase in May and a 0.2 percent increase in April.

The Lagging Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.2 percent in June to 124.4, following a 0.1 percent increase in May and a 0.3 percent increase in April.