Suggesting solid economic growth should continue in the second half, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing a continued uptrend by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of April.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.4 percent in April, matching the upwardly revised increase in March as well as economist estimates.
While the index continued to climb, Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at the Conference Board, noted, “The LEI’s six-month growth rate has recently moderated somewhat, suggesting growth is unlikely to strongly accelerate.”
The increase by the leading economic index partly reflected improvements by the labor market components, which made negative contributions in March.
On the other hand, negative contributions from stock prices and housing permits limited the upside for the leading index.
The Conference Board also said the coincident economic index increased by 0.3 percent in April after rising by 0.2 percent in March.
The lagging economic index also rose by 0.3 percent in April after edging down by 0.1 percent in the previous month.
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