The Conference
Board said on Thursday that its Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the U.S. declined
0.3 per cent m-o-m in February to 101.1 (2016=100), following an upwardly revised
0.2 m-o-m drop (from -0.3 per cent m-o-m) in January.
Economists had anticipated
the indicator to decrease 0.2
per cent m-o-m.
The report also
revealed the Conference Board Coincident Economic Index (CEI) for the U.S. gained
0.3 per cent m-o-m to 114.7
in February after a downwardly
revised 0.2 per cent m-o-m advance (from +0.3 per cent m-o-m) in the previous month. Meanwhile, its Lagging Economic
Index (LAG) for the U.S. jumped 0.4
per cent m-o-m to 119.1, following a downwardly
revised 0.3 per cent m-o-m rise (from +0.5 per cent m-o-m) in the first month of 2025.
Commenting on
the latest data, Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle
Indicators at the Conference Board, noted that the U.S. LEI fell again in
February and continued to point to headwinds ahead. “Consumers’ expectations of
future business conditions turned more pessimistic,” she added. “That was the
component that weighed down most heavily on the Index in February.”
Zabinska-La
Monica also unveiled that the Conference Board currently sees the U.S. real
GDP growth to slow to around 2.0% in 2025, given substantial policy uncertainty
and the notable pullback in consumer sentiment and spending since the beginning
of the year.