The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index® Increases in February

The Conference Board, which was founded in 1916 as a non-partisan, not-for-profit think tank, released today (3-18-22) their February 2021, Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. According to the release, the LEI which is based on ten separate components increased 0.2% in February, following a 0.5% increase in January and a 0.4% increase in December. The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for the U.S. decreased -0.1% in February, following a 0.2% increase in January and a -0.1% decrease in December. The Conference Board Lagging Economic Index® (LAG) for the U.S. increased 0.2% in February, following a -2.3% decrease in January and 0.4% increase in December. In remarks prepared for the February LEI release, Ataman Ozyildirim, Senior Director of Economic Research at The Conference Board said, “The U.S. LEI continued rising in February, suggesting economic growth should continue well into this year. Indeed, the acceleration of the vaccination campaign and a new round of large fiscal supports are not yet fully reflected in the LEI. With those developments, The Conference Board now expects the pace of growth to improve even further this year, with the U.S. economy expanding by 5.5 percent in 2021.”