The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Japan Declines

NEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Japan declined 1.3 percent in June to 95.1 (2004 = 100), following a 1.1 percent decline in May, and a 0.2 percent decline in April.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Japan, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.3 percent in June to 98.6 (2004 = 100), following no change in May, and a 0.3 percent decline in April.

The Conference Board LEI for Japan has fallen for three months in a row, after increasing sharply in the first quarter of the year. As a result, the six-month change in the index has turned negative – the first time since September 2011. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Japan increased slightly in June following no growth in May and a small decline in April. The six-month growth in the index has slowed significantly from the second half of last year. Despite the recent declines in the LEI, the composite indexes and their components still suggest that economic activity is likely to continue expanding in the coming months, but at a relatively slow pace.

About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index^® (LEI) for Japan
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 ten components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index^® for Japan include:

Operating Profits
Dwelling Units Started
Business Failures
Index of Overtime Worked
Stock Prices (TOPIX)
Six-Month Growth Rate of Labor Productivity
Tankan Business Conditions Survey
Money Supply
Yield Spread
New Orders for Machinery and Construction

For more information including full press release and technical notes:
http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=5

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.

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SOURCE The Conference Board

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