Latest Conference Board Stories

NEW YORK, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Japan increased 0.7 percent in January to 92.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in December, and a 0.1 percent decline in November. At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Japan, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.5 percent in January to 96.6 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent decline in December, and a 0.2 percent...

NEW YORK, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board announced today that it will expand the U.S. Consumer Confidence Index® to include individual indexes for eight U.S. states. Beginning with the March 26 release, The Conference Board will report, alongside national and regional figures, state-specific findings from the monthly Consumer Confidence Survey® for California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. About The Conference Board...

NEW YORK, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain increased 0.7 percent in January to 105.2 (2004 = 100), following a 0.8 percent increase in December, and a 0.6 percent increase in November. At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity, declined 0.4 percent in January to 94.0 (2004 = 100), following a 0.6 percent decline in December, and a 0.7 percent...

But the Sequester is Looming NEW YORK, March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Employment Trends Index(TM) (ETI) increased in February. The index now stands at 111.14, up from 109.93 (an upward revision) in January. The February figure is 3.2 percent higher than a year ago. "As a result of the large increase in February, and positive revisions to earlier months, the Employment Trends index is signaling an improving employment environment," said Gad Levanon, Director of...

NEW YORK, March 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Surprisingly Robust Job Growth Ahead of Sequester The labor market continued to improve in February, generating 236,000 new jobs and probably providing a needed boost to consumer sentiment. The big question was whether this much job creation can be sustained. The answer is now complicated by the budget cuts under the sequester. What is clear however, is that the labor market was gaining traction before the sequester. Now the question becomes...

- February labor demand little changed following two months of strong gains NEW YORK, March 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Online advertised vacancies dipped 44,400 in February to 5,056,700 in The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine® (HWOL) Data Series released today. The decline follows strong gains in December (215,000) and January (126,000). The Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.4 unemployed for every vacancy. In January, there were 7.2 million more unemployed than the number of...

CEOs Most Optimistic About Prospects in China Than Any Other Economy WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Top chief executives are more optimistic about prospects for the global economy than they are for the U.S. economy, according to The Business Council Survey of CEOs announced today in collaboration with The Conference Board. Nearly three quarters of CEOs surveyed expect global growth in 2013 will keep pace with 2012 and almost 60 percent expect growth to quicken in 2014....

BRUSSELS, Feb. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(® )(LEI) for the Euro Area increased 1.0 percent in January and now stands at 106.2 (2004=100), after increasing 0.3 percent in December 2012 and 0.6 percent in November 2012. "The Euro Area Leading Economic Index improved for the third month in a row, indicating that stabilizing financial conditions are having a positive effect on the economic outlook," said Bert Colijn, Economist for Europe at The...

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Mexico increased 0.7 percent in December to 123.9 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent decline in November, and a 0.2 percent decline in October. At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Mexico, a measure of current economic activity, decreased 0.2 percent in December to 122.6 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent increase in November, and no change in...

BRUSSELS, Feb. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Germany increased 0.5 percent in December to 103.5 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent decline in November and a 0.5 percent increase in October. At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Germany, a measure of current economic activity, declined 0.1 percent in December to 106.6 (2004 = 100), following no change in November, and a 0.3 percent decline in...