The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for U.S. Up 0.5% in December - Modern Distribution Management

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for U.S. Up 0.5% in December

Growth suggests the U.S. economy will continue to grow at a moderate pace.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. increased 0.5 percent in December to 124.6. The Coincident Economic Index increased 0.3 percent, and the Lagging Economic Index increased 0.4 percent.

"The U.S. Leading Economic Index increased in December, suggesting the economy will continue growing at a moderate pace, perhaps even accelerating slightly in the early months of this year,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, director of business cycles and growth research at The Conference Board. “December’s large gain was mainly driven by improving sentiment about the outlook and suggests the business cycle still showed strong momentum in the final months of 2016.”

The improvement in the LEI was fueled by positive contributions from the yield spread, stock prices  and average consumer expectations for business conditions. Over the last six months of 2016, the leading economic index grew 1.4 percent (about a 2.8 percent annual rate), much faster than the growth of 0.2 percent (about a 0.3 percent annual rate) over the first half of last year. In addition, the strengths among the leading indicators have become more widespread.

The CEI for the U.S., a measure of current economic activity, rose 1 percent (about a 2 percent annual rate) between June and December 2016, faster than the growth of 0.6 percent (about a 1.2 percent annual rate) over the previous six months. Also, the strengths among the coincident indicators have remained very widespread, with all components advancing over the past six months.

The lagging economic index continued to increase at a slightly higher rate than the CEI. As a result, the coincident-to-lagging ratio is down again.

Share this article

About the Author
Recommended Reading
Leave a Reply

Leave a Comment

Sign Up for the MDM Update Newsletter

The MDM update newsletter is your best source for news and trends in the wholesale distribution industry.

Get the MDM Update Newsletter

Wholesale distribution news and trends delivered right to your inbox.

Sign-up for our free newsletter and get:

  • Up-to-date news in a quick-to-read format
  • Free access to webcasts, podcasts and live events
  • Exclusive whitepapers, research and reports
  • And more!

2

articles left

Want more Premium content from MDM?

Subscribe today and get:

  • New issues twice each month
  • Unlimited access to mdm.com, including 10+ years of archived data
  • Current trends analysis, market data and economic updates
  • Discounts on select store products and events

Subscribe to continue reading

MDM Premium Subscribers get:

  • Unlimited access to MDM.com
  • 1 year digital subscription, with new issues twice a month
  • Trends analysis, market data and quarterly economic updates
  • Deals on select store products and events

1

article
left

You have one free article remaining

Subscribe to MDM Premium to get unlimited access. Your subscription includes:

  • Two new issues a month
  • Access to 10+ years of archived data on mdm.com
  • Quarterly economic updates, trends analysis and market data
  • Store and event discounts

To continue reading, you must be an MDM Premium subscriber.

Join other distribution executives who use MDM Premium to optimize their business. Our insights and analysis help you enter the right new markets, turbocharge your sales and marketing efforts, identify business partners that help you scale, and stay ahead of your competitors.

Register for full access

By providing your email, you agree to receive announcements from us and our partners for our newsletter, events, surveys, and partner resources per MDM Terms & Conditions. You can withdraw consent at any time.

Learn More about Custom Reports

Request a Market Prospector Demo

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.