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

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May 18, 2012, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, May 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain declined 0.9 percent in March to 104.3 (2004 = 100), following no change in February, and a 0.5 percent increase in January.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity, declined 0.2 percent in March to 98.1 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent decline in both February and January.

In March, The Conference Board LEI for Spain started to decline again after briefly rising in December and January, and its six-month growth rate fell deeper into negative territory. At the same time, The Conference Board CEI for Spain has been declining for almost a year. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that the current contraction in Spain is unlikely to end 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

	2012						6-month
	Jan		Feb		Mar		Sep to Mar
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	105.3	r	105.3	r	104.3
Percent Change	0.5		0.0	r	-0.9		-1.5
Diffusion	66.7		50.0		.0		25.0

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	98.5	p	98.3	p	98.1	p
Percent Change	-0.2	p	-0.2	p	-0.2	p	-1.8	p
Diffusion	20.0		40.0		40.0		20.0

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