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

News provided by

Apr 09, 2015, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Japan increased 0.2 percent in February to 103.9 (2010 = 100), following no change in January, and a 0.1 percent increase in December.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Japan, a measure of current economic activity, declined 0.2 percent in February to 98.5 (2010 = 100), following a 0.5 percent increase in January, and a 0.4 percent increase in December.

The Conference Board LEI for Japan increased in February. The growth of the LEI has improved considerably compared to six months ago and the strengths among its components are widespread. Despite the decline in the CEI, its six-month growth rate remains in positive territory with all components advancing over the past six months. Taken together, the behavior of both indexes suggests that the recovery in current economic activity will continue in the short-term.

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

Summary Table of Composite Economic Indexes
	2014		2015				6-month
	Dec		Jan		Feb		Aug to Feb

Leading Economic Index (LEI)	103.7	p	103.7	p	103.9	p
Percent Change	0.1	p	0.0	p	0.2	p	2.1	p
Diffusion	80.0		70.0		70.0		90.0

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	98.2	p	98.7	p	98.5	p
Percent Change	0.4	p	0.5	p	-0.2	p	1.3	p
Diffusion	75.0		87.5		50.0		100.0

n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised
Indexes equal 100 in 2010
Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved

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.

SOURCE The Conference Board