The U.S. index of leading economic indicators declined one tick in March, the
Conference Board said Thursday.
The Leading Economic Index slipped 0.1 percent to 94.7 following three
consecutive months of increases. In January and February, the index rose 0.5
percent. In December it rose 0.4 percent.
The leading index compares current business activity with 2004, the year the
Conference Board assigned a level of 100.
"Data for March reflect an economy that has lost some steam. In addition to
headwinds from government spending cuts, the private sector economy may struggle
to maintain its momentum. The biggest challenge remains weak demand, due to
nervous consumer sentiment and slow income growth," said Conference Board
Economist Ken Goldstein in a statement.
"Meanwhile," he said, "the coincident economic index (which measures current
conditions) is down since December due to a large decline in personal income,"
he said.
The coincident index also dropped 0.1 percent in the month to 105.2.
That index also uses 2004 as a base point for comparison, assigning that year a
value of 100.
