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

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Mar 14, 2013, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, March 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea declined 0.8 percent in January to 120.3 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent decline in December, and a 0.2 percent increase in November.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Korea, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.1 percent in January to 117.2 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent decline in December and a 0.4 percent increase in November.

The LEI for Korea declined in January for the second consecutive month after increasing in the previous three months. Its six-month growth, although still positive and higher than in the first three quarters of 2012, has moderated somewhat in recent months. Meanwhile, the CEI for Korea registered a small gain in January and has been on a flat to slightly upward trend since the second half of last year. Taken together, both the LEI and CEI suggest that the economic expansion will continue in the near term, but the rate is unlikely to pick up.

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.

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Summary Table of Composite Economic Indexes
	2012				2013		6-month
	Nov		Dec		Jan		Jul to Jan

Leading Economic index (LEI)	121.4	r	121.3	r	120.3	p
Percent Change	0.2	r	-0.1	p	-0.8	p	0.4	p
Diffusion	50.0	r	57.1	p	35.7	p	71.4

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	117.3	r	117.1	p	117.2	p
Percent Change	0.4	r	-0.2	p	0.1	p	0.5	p
Diffusion	87.5		62.5		75.0		62.5

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