The Conference Board LEI for the Euro Area rises sharply again
27-May-2010 The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the Euro Area increased 0.9 percent in April to 110.4 (2004 = 100), following a 1.2 percent increase in March and a 0.5 percent increase in February.
Said Jean-Claude Manini, The Conference Board senior economist for Europe: "The LEI points to a continuing, though still weak, recovery for the Euro Area. Even with the recent volatility in European financial markets, post-recession rebound effects still dominate the recovery process. The LEI has returned to a solidly upward trend, suggesting a moderate pick-up in economic activity in the second half of the year."
Adds Bart van Ark, The Conference Board chief economist: "The structural imbalances unveiled by the current fiscal and financial crisis could well put Europe on a slow growth track in 2011 and beyond. For 2010, we still project moderately positive growth rates for most European countries, with exceptions in Greece, Spain, and Ireland, which will decline."
The Conference Board LEI for the Euro Area has increased 15.6 percent since its March 2009 trough. Six of its eight components contributed positively this month. Its six-month growth rate has slowed since September 2009, but has been moving back up during the past two months.
Meanwhile, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for the Euro Area, which measures current economic activity, was unchanged in April at 102.0 (2004 = 100) according to preliminary estimates*. It increased by 0.1 percent in March and was unchanged in February.
The Conference Board LEI for the Euro Area aggregates eight economic indicators that measure activity in the Euro Area as a whole (rather than indicators of individual member countries), each of which has proven accurate on its own. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.