The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain Declined in July

News provided by

Sep 15, 2011, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain declined 0.9 percent in July to 105.8 (2004 = 100), following a 0.3 percent decrease in June, and a no change in May.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity increased 0.1 percent in July, to 101.5 (2004 = 100), following no change in June and no change in May.

The Conference Board LEI for Spain declined in July, its sharpest decline since November 2010. Additionally, its six-month growth rate is now the lowest since March 2009. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Spain increased slightly in July. However, its six-month growth rate has remained relatively stable since March, fluctuating within a range of 0.2 to 0.4 percent. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes and their components suggests that economic activity will remain weak in the near term.

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

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 six components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for Spain include:

Capital Equipment Component of Industrial Production
Contribution to Euro M2
Stock Price Index
Long term Government Bond Yield
Order Books Survey
Job Placings

For more information including full press release and technical notes:

http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=9

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 Indexes
	2011			6-month
	May	Jun	Jul	Jan to Jul
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	107.1	106.8 r	105.8
Percent Change	0.0	-0.3 r	-0.9	-1.8
Diffusion	41.7	33.3	.0	33.3

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	101.4 r	101.4 p	101.5 p
Percent Change	0.0 r	0.0 p	0.1 p	0.3 p
Diffusion	60.0	40.0	40.0	40.0
n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised Indexes equal 100 in 2004 Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved