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

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May 14, 2013, 09:00 ET

NEW YORK, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea increased 1.2 percent in March to 121.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4 percent decline in February, and a 0.5 percent decline in January.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Korea, a measure of current economic activity, decreased 0.3 percent in March to 116.7 (2004 = 100), following no change in February and a 0.1 percent decline in January.

The LEI for Korea increased in March following three consecutive declines, and its six-month growth has been fairly stable since the second half of last year. Meanwhile, the CEI for Korea fell in March – the third decline in the last four months. As a result, its six-month change has dipped slightly into negative territory. Despite the large gain in the LEI, the recent volatility in the index suggests that the economic expansion will continue, but that the rate of expansion is likely to remain modest 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
	2013						6-month
	Jan		Feb		Mar		Sep to Mar
Leading Economic index (LEI)	120.8	r	120.3	r	121.7
Percent Change	-0.5	r	-0.4	r	1.2		1.1
Diffusion	42.9	r	42.9	r	85.7		71.4

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	117.0	p	117.0	p	116.7	p
Percent Change	-0.1	p	0.0	p	-0.3	p	-0.1	p
Diffusion	50.0		50.0		50.0		50.0

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