A look at the Leading Index

The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index increased 0.3% in August, and as the graph from the Conference Board shows, the recovery remains intact but the pace is expected to be sluggish.



Interestingly, the Coincident Index, which measures economic data that reveals how the economy is currently performing (as opposed to the LEI which is future oriented), began its rise when the recession ended in June 2009.

Gains in the CI have been gradual, reflecting the slow recovery. Over the past three months, the CI has increased an anemic 0.1%, as growth slowed over the summer.

Another perspective is available at my page on Examiner.