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

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Jul 16, 2013, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, July 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain increased 0.5 percent in May to 105.5 (2004 = 100), following a 0.7 percent increase in April, and a 0.3 percent decline in March.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.1 percent in May to 94.2 (2004 = 100), following no change in April, and a 0.2 percent decline in March.

The LEI for Spain increased for the third time in five months, though its six-month growth rate has slowed recently. Meanwhile, the CEI for Spain has been on a downward trend for almost two years, but the pace of its decline has moderated since the beginning of 2013. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that the current contraction in the economy may start to ease 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
	2013			6-month
	Mar	Apr	May	Nov to May
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	104.3	105.0	105.5
Percent Change	-0.3	0.7	0.5	1.8
Diffusion	16.7	66.7	66.7	83.3

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	94.1 p	94.1 p	94.2 p
Percent Change	-0.2 p	0.0 p	0.1 p	-0.8 p
Diffusion	30.0	60.0	70.0	40.0

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