U.S. Leading Economic Index Rises For Second Straight Month

(RTTNews) - Suggesting moderate economic growth should continue through the end of 2016, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing that its index of leading U.S. economic indicators rose for the second consecutive month in July.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index climbed by 0.4 percent in July following a 0.3 percent increase in June. Economists had expected the index to rise by another 0.3 percent.

The increase by the index came as positive contributions from hours worked in manufacturing, initial jobless claims and financial subcomponents more than offset a negative contribution from consumer expectations for business conditions.

The report said the coincident economic index also advanced by 0.4 percent in July after rising by 0.2 percent in June. The increase reflected positive contributions from all four indicators that make up the index.

Additionally, the Conference Board said the lagging economic index inched up by 0.1 percent in July after edging down by 0.1 percent in June.

The uptick by the index reflected positive contributions from the ratio of consumer installment credit outstanding to personal income and the ratio of manufacturing and trade inventories to sales.