Leading Indicators in U.S. Climb for Fourth Straight Month
Source: Bloomberg
By Nina Glinski Jan 23, 2015 11:05 AM ET
The index of U.S. leading indicators increased in December, extending its rise to four straight months, as the world’s largest economy expanded.
The Conference Board’s index, a gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months, increased 0.5 percent in December, after a revised 0.4 percent gain in November, the New York-based group said today. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.4 percent advance.
An improving job market and plunging gas prices continue to support consumer spending that makes up almost 70 percent of the economy. A strong domestic market is buffering the U.S. against global weakness as Federal Reserve policy makers prepare to meet next week to discuss if and when to raise interest rates.
It’s “more or less consistent with our expectation for continued expansion as we turn the corner here into 2015,” said Tim Quinlan, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, who’s among the top LEI forecasters over the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “If there’s something that has shifted over the last year or so, it’s that the consumer spending outlook is a little bit brighter.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-23/leading-indicators-in-u-s-increase-for-fourth-straight-month.html
