Gain in U.S. Leading Index Points to Second-Quarter Rebound

By Lorraine Woellert May 22, 2014 10:23 AM ET

The index of U.S. leading indicators rose in April for the fourth straight month, showing the economy will strengthen after a slowdown earlier this year.

The Conference Board’s index, a gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months, rose 0.4 percent after a revised 1.0 percent gain in March that was larger than previously reported, the New York-based group said today. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 0.4 percent.

The gain indicates the first-quarter slowdown was more the result of harsh weather than underlying weakness in the expansion. Faster job growth that leads to a pickup in wages would help provide a further boost to consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

“It’s a slow, still-uneven recovery, but still modest growth,” Kenneth Kim, an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research in Princeton, New Jersey, said before the report. “It’s kind of idling gains, not very strong.”

Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gains of 0.2 percent to 0.6 percent. The revised gain for March matched September’s reading as the biggest advance since March 2011.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-22/gain-in-u-s-leading-index-points-to-second-quarter-rebound.html