The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia Increases

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Feb 23, 2011, 06:00 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia increased 0.7 percent in December to 121.3 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in November, and a 0.7 percent increase in October.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Australia, a measure of current economic activity, was unchanged in December, remaining at 118.3 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in November, and a 0.1 percent increase in October.

The Conference Board LEI for Australia continued its upward trend through the end of 2010, after a brief pause in the third quarter. However, its six-month growth rate moderated somewhat from the first half of 2010. At the same time, The Conference Board CEI for Australia has generally increased throughout 2010 and its six-month growth rate has been fairly steady. Taken together, the current behavior of the composite indexes suggests that economic growth will likely be moderate in the near term.

About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia

The composite economic indexes are the key elements in an analytic system designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle. The leading and coincident economic indexes are essentially composite averages of several individual leading or coincident indicators. They are constructed to summarize and reveal common turning point patterns in economic data in a clearer and more convincing manner than any individual component – primarily because they smooth out some of the volatility of individual components.

The seven components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for Australia include:

Yield Spread, 10 year minus Policy Rate
Share Prices, All Ordinaries
Money Supply, M3
Rural Goods Exports
Sales to Inventory Ratio
Gross Operating Surplus, Private Non-Financial Corporations
Building Approvals

For more information including full press release and technical notes:

http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=7

For more information about The Conference Board global business cycle indicators:

http://www.conference-board.org/data/bci.cfm

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is an independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.

Summary Table of Composite Economic Indexes

	2010			6-month
	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jun to Dec

Leading Economic Index	120.1 p	120.4 p	121.3 p
Percent Change	0.7 p	0.2 p	0.7 p	2.3
Diffusion	85.7	71.4	100.0	57.1
Coincident Economic Index	118.1 p	118.3 p	118.3 p
Percent Change	0.1 p	0.2 p	0.0 p	1.1
Diffusion	62.5	62.5	50.0	50.0

n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised
Indexes equal 100 in 2004
Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved