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

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May 17, 2013, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, May 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain declined 0.2 percent in March to 104.4 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4 percent decline in February, and a 0.6 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 93.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4 percent decline in February, and a 0.1 percent decline in January.

Despite two consecutive monthly declines in the LEI for Spain, its six-month growth rate is still positive but has slowed. Meanwhile, the CEI for Spain has been on a downward trend for almost two years, and its six-month growth rate remains in negative territory. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that the current contraction in the economy is likely to continue, even though it may ease in the coming months.

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
	2013			6-month Sep to Mar
	Jan	Feb	Mar
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	105.0 r	104.6 r	104.4
Percent Change	0.6	-0.4 r	-0.2	2.3
Diffusion	66.7	33.3	16.7	83.3
Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	94.3 p	93.9 p	93.7 p
Percent Change	-0.1 p	-0.4 p	-0.2 p	-2.4 p
Diffusion	40.0	20.0	40.0	40.0

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