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

News provided by

Mar 19, 2012, 07:00 ET

NEW YORK, March 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia increased 1.1 percent in January to 126.1 (2004 = 100), following a 0.3 percent decrease in December, and a 1.0 percent decrease in November.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Australia, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.2 percent in January to 119.0 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent decrease in December, and no change in November.

The Conference Board LEI for Australia increased sharply in January after declining in the previous four months, but the six-month growth in the index has been negative since November 2011. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Australia has been growing on a slightly rising trend since mid-2011, and the rate of growth has remained fairly stable so far. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that current moderate economic growth is likely to continue 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				2012		6-month
	Nov		Dec		Jan		Jul to Jan
Leading Economic Index	125.1	r	124.7	p	126.1	p
Percent Change	-1.0	.0	-0.3	p	1.1	p	-0.4
Diffusion	28.6		21.4		57.1		28.6

Coincident Economic Index	119.0	r	118.8	p	119.0	p
Percent Change	0.0	r	-0.2	p	0.2	p	0.6
Diffusion	62.5		50.0		75.0		100.0

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