U.S. Leading Economic Index Edges Up 0.2% In August, Less Than Expected

(RTTNews) - While the Conference Board released a report on Friday showing a continued increase by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of August, the pace of growth showed a significant slowdown compared to the previous month.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index edged up by 0.2 percent in August after showing upwardly revised increases of 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent in July and June, respectively.

Economists had expected the index to climb by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.9 percent increase originally reported for July.

Ken Goldstein, an economist at the Conference Board, said, "The leading indicators point to an economy that is continuing to gain traction, but most likely won't repeat its stellar second quarter performance in the second half."

The modest increase by the leading index reflected positive contributions from the interest rate spread, the ISM new orders index and the Leading Credit Index.

On the other hand, negative contributions from building permits, average weekly initial jobless claims, stock prices, and manufacturers' new orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft limited the upside for the index.

The Conference Board also said its coincident economic index rose by 0.2 percent in August after inching up by 0.1 percent in July.

Goldstein said improving personal income, employment and retail sales contributed to the increase by the coincident index, while industrial production registered a slight decrease.

Additionally, the report showed that the lagging economic index climbed by 0.3 percent in August, matching the increase seen in the previous month.

The continued increase by the lagging index reflected positive contributions from commercial and industrial loans outstanding, the average duration of unemployment and the ratio of consumer installment credit to personal income.