Latest Conference Board Stories

NEW YORK, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Korea increased 1.2 percent in March to 121.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4 percent decline in February, and a 0.5 percent decline in January. At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Korea, a measure of current economic activity, decreased 0.3 percent in March to 116.7 (2004 = 100), following no change in February and a 0.1 percent decline in January....

BRUSSELS, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(®)( )(LEI) for the U.K. increased 0.4 percent in March, after increasing 0.4 percent in February and 0.2 percent in January. Three of the seven components made positive contributions to the index this month. The index now stands at 102.8 (2004=100). "The UK LEI increased modestly for the third month in a row, suggesting that the economy will continue to expand slightly over the near term," says...

Kathy Bostjancic, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis, The Conference Board NEW YORK, May 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- After a surprising decline of 0.5 percent in March, little recovery in retail buying in April reflects a lack of growth in spending power, a delayed impact of the higher payroll tax rate, and continued concern about the negative impact of the sequester. The combined fiscal drag from the increased payroll tax rate and sequester spending cuts total $225 billion for this...

Index Signals Moderate Job Increases Ahead NEW YORK, May 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Employment Trends Index(TM) (ETI) increased in April. The index now stands at 111.68, up from 111.61 (an upward revision) in March. The April figure is 3.8 percent higher than a year ago. "Despite weak economic activity, the Employment Trends index is still signaling moderate job growth in the coming months," said Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference...

Kathy Bostjancic, Director of Macroeconomic Analysis, The Conference Board NEW YORK, May 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- With an increase of 165,000 jobs in April, and following the significant upward revisions for February and March, the job market looks better than expected despite the sequester or issues like the rising cost of providing health care benefits. Manufacturing, however, is basically flat outside of auto assembly. The big story is gain in the service sector, in addition to...

Bart van Ark, Executive Vice President and Chief Economist, The Conference Board NEW YORK, May 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported 0.7 percent annualized growth in labor productivity for the first quarter of 2013. After a decline of 1.7 percent (annualized) in the fourth quarter of 2012, this modest rebound in labor productivity is still well below the longer term trend of 2-2.5 percent. This small productivity dividend will do little to...

New Report from The Conference Board Examines CEO Succession in the S&P 500 NEW YORK, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2012, 27.1 percent of S&P 500 companies facing a CEO succession hired an outsider for the top job, according to CEO Succession Practices: 2013 Edition, a new report by The Conference Board released today. The rate confirms an upward trend recorded since the 1970s, when less than 10 percent of CEO hires were outsides; it is much higher than the 19 percent reported...

- April rise offsets losses in February and March, leaving labor demand unchanged in 2013 NEW YORK, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Online advertised vacancies rose 204,300 in April to 5,103,100 in The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series released today. The gain offsets earlier losses, leaving labor demand flat in 2013. The Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.4 unemployed for each vacancy. In March, there were 6.8 million more unemployed than the number of advertised...

BRUSSELS, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(® )(LEI) for the Euro Area decreased 0.4 percent in March and now stands at 105.8 (2004=100), after increasing 0.1 percent in February and increasing 1.4 percent in January. "The decline in the LEI suggests that the Euro Area economy remains very weak and a recovery in the coming months continues to be unlikely," says Bert Colijn, Economist for Europe at The Conference Board. "Business and consumer...

Kathy Bostjancic, Director for Macroeconomic Analysis, The Conference Board NEW YORK, April 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a comment on Q1 GDP from Kathy Bostjancic, Director for Macroeconomic Analysis, The Conference Board: The pace of economic growth in the U.S. grew 2.5% in Q1, propelled by acceleration in personal consumer expenditures and a buildup in inventories. However, the disappointingly weak March employment and retail sales reports support our view that the...