The Conference Board Reports U.S. Leading Economic Index® Increased in July

The Conference Board, which was founded in 1916 as a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank, released today (8-19-21) their July 2021 Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. According to the release, the LEI (which is based on ten separate components) increased by 0.9% in July to 116.0 (2016 = 100), following a 0.5% increase in June and a 1.2% increase in May.

The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for the U.S. increased by 0.6% in July to 105.6 (2016 = 100), following a 0.4% increase in June and a 0.1% increase in May.

The Conference Board Lagging Economic Index® (LAG) for the U.S. increased by 0.6% in May to 106.5 (2016 = 100), after being unchanged in June and increasing 0.8% in May.

In a statement prepared for the July LEI release, Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director of Economic Research at The Conference Board said, “The U.S. LEI registered another large gain in July, with all components contributing positively. The Leading Index’s overall upward trend, which started with the end of the pandemic-induced recession in April 2020, is consistent with strong economic growth in the second half of the year. While the Delta variant and/or rising inflation fears could create headwinds for the US economy in the near term, we expect real GDP growth for 2021 to reach 6.0 percent year-over-year, before easing to a still robust 4.0 percent growth rate for 2022.”