Please click on the links below for a complete picture.
More important is the strength in coincident indicators, rising 1.0% in the past month. This is the signal we've been waiting for.
Employment, as we expect, is the only coincident indicator not showing a gain. All others point to strong economic activity.
Paterson expects both employment and bank lending to increase in 2010 Q II.
* * * * * J B K * * * * *
San Francisco
Says Ataman Ozyildirim, Economist at The Conference Board: "The Conference Board LEI for the U.S. increased sharply in December, and has risen steadily for nine consecutive months. The six-month growth rate has picked up slightly to 5.2 percent (about a 10.8 percent annual rate) in the period through December, substantially higher than earlier in the year. In addition, the strengths among the leading indicators have remained very widespread in recent months."
Adds Ken Goldstein, Economist at The Conference Board: "The indicators point to an economy in early recovery. The coincident economic index shows slow expansion of economic activity through December. The leading economic index suggests that the pace of improvement could pick up this spring."
http://www.conference-board.org/economics/bci/pressRelease_output.cfm?cid=1
The pdf has all the details.
http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/economics/bci/goldenh.pdf
