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

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Jun 14, 2012, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea declined 0.2 percent in April to 121.2 (2004 = 100), following a 1.5 percent decline in March, and a 2.8 percent increase in February.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Korea, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.3 percent in April to 117.4 (2004 = 100), following a 0.8 percent decrease in March, and a 0.9 percent increase in February.

The Conference Board LEI for Korea declined for the second consecutive month in April, but its six-month growth rate is still higher than during the second half of 2011. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Korea increased in April after declining in March, though its six-month growth rate has slowed since February of this year. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes still suggests that despite the declines in the leading economic index in the last two months, the economy is likely to continue expanding in the near term.

About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea

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 Korea include:

Stock Prices
Value of Machinery Orders
Letter of Credit Arrivals
Index of Shipments to Inventories
Export FOB
Yield of Government Public Bonds
Private Construction Orders

For more information including full press release and technical notes:
http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=6

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
		Feb		Mar		Apr		Oct to Apr

Leading Economic Index (LEI)		123.3	r	121.4	r	121.2
	Percent Change	2.8	r	-1.5		-0.2		0.9
	Diffusion	92.9	r	28.6		21.4		78.6

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)		118.0	r	117.1	p	117.4	p
	Percent Change	0.9	r	-0.8	p	0.3	p	1.1	p
	Diffusion	75.0		25.0		75.0		50.0