The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the Euro Area Increased Again in August

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Sep 27, 2010, 04:00 ET

BRUSSELS, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the Euro Area increased 0.4 percent in August to 112.5 (2004 = 100), following a 0.8 percent increase in July and a 0.5 percent increase in June.

Said Jean-Claude Manini, The Conference Board senior economist for Europe: "The LEI for the Euro Area suggests that the slowdown in economic activity should be moderating in the near term. The initial impetus of the recovery has been fading and the broad based cooling down of leading indicators is a reminder of the fragility of the recovery. Beginning in 2011, we should see modest and more volatile growth accompanying the phasing in of deficit reduction measures."

After increasing in August, The Conference Board LEI for the Euro Area is 17.8 percent above its March 2009 trough. Meanwhile, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for the Euro Area, which measures current economic activity, remained unchanged in August. The index stands at 102.5 (2004 = 100) according to preliminary estimates*. It remained unchanged in July and unchanged in June.

The Conference Board LEI for the Euro Area aggregates eight economic indicators that measure activity in the Euro Area as a whole (rather than indicators of individual member countries), each of which has proven accurate on its own. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.

About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the Euro Area

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for the Euro Area was launched in January 2009. Plotted back to 1987, this index has successfully signaled turning points in the business cycle of the bloc of countries that now constitute the Euro Area, defined by the common currency zone.

The Conference Board currently produces leading economic indexes for ten other individual countries, including Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.

The eight components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for the Euro Area include:

Economic Sentiment Index (source: European Commission DG-ECFIN)
Index of Residential Building Permits Granted (source: Eurostat)
Index of Capital Goods New Orders (source: Eurostat)
EURO STOXX® Index (source: STOXX Limited)
Money Supply (M2) (source: European Central Bank)
Interest Rate Spread (source: ECB)
Eurozone Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (source: Markit Economics)
Eurozone Service Sector Future Business Activity Expectations Index (source: Markit Economics)

NOTE:

To view the webpage, which includes a pdf of the press release and technical notes: http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=10

To view The Conference Board calendar of 2010 indicator releases: http://www.conference-board.org/data/

* Series in The Conference Board LEI for the Euro Area that are based on The Conference Board estimates are real money supply, residential building permits, and new orders of capital goods. All series in The Conference Board CEI for the Euro Area are based on The Conference Board estimates (employment, industrial production, retail trade, and manufacturing turnover).

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, 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.

SOURCE The Conference Board