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

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May 22, 2012, 08:00 ET

NEW YORK, May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Australia increased 0.2 percent in March to 126.2 (2004 = 100), following no change in February, and a 1.1 percent increase in January.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Australia, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.4 percent in March to 119.9 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent increase in February, and a 0.3 percent increase in January.

The Conference Board LEI for Australia increased slightly in March, but it has not yet fully recovered from a series of declines through December and its six-month growth has remained negative since November. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Australia continued on its slightly rising trend which started in mid-2011, and the rate of growth has remained fairly stable so far. Taken together, despite some rising risks highlighted by the leading indicators in exports and housing sectors, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that 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
			2012				6-month
	Jan		Feb		Mar		Sep to Mar
Leading Economic Index	126.0	p	126.0	p	126.2	p
Percent Change	1.1	p	0.0	p	0.2	p	-0.5
Diffusion	57.1		71.4		71.4		42.9

Coincident Economic Index	119.3	p	119.4	p	119.9	p
Percent Change	0.3	p	0.1	p	0.4	p	0.9
Diffusion	100.0		75.0		100.0		100.0

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