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

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Feb 14, 2011, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain increased 0.1 percent in December to 106.8 (2004 = 100), following a 1.0 percent decline in November, and a 0.4 percent decline in October.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity, declined 0.2 percent in December to 100.1 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent decline in November and a 0.3 percent decline in October.

The Conference Board LEI for Spain increased slightly in December. However, the index has been generally declining for more than a year, although this downtrend has not been as sharp as the decline in 2008. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Spain has also been decreasing since June 2010, and its six-month growth rate is at its lowest since August 2009. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that economic activity is likely to 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
		2010		6-month
	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jun to Dec
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	107.8	106.7 r	106.8
Percent Change	-0.4	-1.0 r	0.1	-0.6
Diffusion	25.0	16.7	50.0	33.3
Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	100.4 p	100.3 p	100.1 p
Percent Change	-0.3 p	-0.1 p	-0.2 p	-1.7 p
Diffusion	0.0	50.0	40.0	0.0

n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised
Indexes equal 100 in 2004

Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved