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

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Jun 22, 2011, 08:00 ET

NEW YORK, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia increased 0.1 percent in April to 119.3 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent decrease in March, and a 0.2 percent decrease in February.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Australia, a measure of current economic activity, decreased 0.1 percent in April to 117.9 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in March, and no change in February.

The Conference Board LEI for Australia increased slightly in April, following three consecutive declines, and its six-month change has turned negative for the first time since mid-2009. At the same time, The Conference Board CEI for Australia has essentially been flat, with its six-month growth rate slowing significantly from last year. Taken together, the current behavior of the composite indexes suggests that economic activity will likely be slow 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

	2011			6-month
	Feb	Mar	Apr	Oct to Apr

Leading Economic Index	119.3 r	119.2 p	119.3 p
Percent Change	-0.2 r	-0.1 p	0.1 p	-0.6
Diffusion	57.1	71.4	50.0	71.4

Coincident Economic Index	117.8 r	118.0 p	117.9 p
Percent Change	0.0 r	0.2 p	-0.1 p	0.1
Diffusion	25.0	50.0	50.0	50.0

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